Can a lack of adequate sleep harm my health?

Yes. Sleep deprivation will result in several different physical issues from lowered immune function to increased load on the heart. In extreme cases it can even lead to death, such as if one falls asleep while driving.

The anxiety of sleep deprivation can cause you to overeat to soothe yourself, resulting in weight gain. Over-the-counter sleeping pills are one of the fastest growing categories of medicine. Insomnia has become an epidemic. Still, people do not want to go to their doctors about this problem. Sleep aids may offer a temporary fix, but they are not solving the problem, as they do not treat the underlying cause. Treating the physiological component won't work especially if there is a spiritual problem. The precise function of sleep remains a mystery, but as we spend one third of our lives sleeping doesn't it deserve our respect?

Without sleep, your body's immune cells don't function. Consequently, your immunity to infections and disease is reduced. Your productivity is reduced because your cognitive functioning is impaired. Approximately one-third of all drivers have fallen asleep at some point while driving a car.

The answer is yes. People do vary in how much they need to sleep in order to feel refreshed; however, a study done a few years ago determined that 8 hours and 15 minutes was the average amount of sleep required for the average person to stay awake in a darkened room in the middle of the afternoon without the aid of caffeine or other stimulants. If you start to dose off under these conditions, you are considered sleep-deprived.

Not getting enough sleep does have health consequences. The blood pressure rises, the blood sugar rises, and the risk of having a heart attack increases. Because a sleep deficit is interpreted by your body as stressful, your cortisol levels rise and your sympathetic nervous system fires. What's more, without a good night's sleep, you don't get the surge of growth hormone or the surge of immune-activating interleukins that you need.

There are also studies that demonstrate a propensity toward weight gain on either extreme of the sleep spectrum. People who get either too little or too much sleep often put on weight, so seven to nine hours of sleep is what you should aim for if you want to avoid gaining weight.

It may be that some adults sleep naturally and easily for long, continuous periods, and others don’t -- and that both patterns are pretty healthy, as long you feel good during the day. Even good sleepers will have times in their lives when plentiful, continuous sleep isn’t an option. If you are growing a new family or a new business, if you are experiencing a creative surge on a favorite project, or if you are riding out the hormonal storms of perimenopause, sleep will be harder to come by. Assuming that your sleep loss isn’t drastic and long-lasting, and that you don’t drive when you’re very sleepy, it won’t kill you. Just do your best to get the sleep you can and try not to let the eight-hour sleep myth frighten you. It’s not healthy to seriously deprive yourself of sleep, but it’s also not healthy to become fearful and anxious just because you aren’t carried off to eight hours of blissful sleep on the fluttering wings of butterflies -- even though ad campaigns for sleeping pills suggest that you should be.