IMMEDIATELY following lack of sleep, you may experience inability to concentrate, memory problems and headaches, as well as impaired vision and driving skills. If insufficient sleep becomes a pattern, it can lead to chronic inflammation, which opens the door for many illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease, stroke, and growing risk for weight gain.
Many sleep researchers think sleep recovery, getting effective sleep regeneration after you’ve been sleep deprived, never fully occurs. One of researchers says sleep debt can rarely, if ever, be fully paid back. The body can’t survive without sleep. It can’t rebuild properly without it, and what has lost is lost.
One sleep consultant says that the way to tell if you are getting enough sleep is simple, if you feel awake and alert during the day, yes, and if you feel sleepy in the day, no. And there’s a difference between feeling tired and feeling sleepy; the latter means literally wanting to sleep during the day. Another way for you to know your right sleeping hours is to find out if you feel sleepy 4 hours after you wake up. Your brain is most active at this time, if you feel sleepy, then your sleep is not enough.
A sleep consultant recommends that if you are looking forward to catching up on some sleep on the weekend, instead of sleeping longer in the morning, get to bed earlier at night as possible. And if this is not possible, wake up in the morning at the same time with weekdays, then sleep again later or take a nap. In this way, the circadian clock (regulates the pattern of sleeping and waking during the 24-hour cycle), will not be burdened with time lag and your Monday morning will be much easier.
