The CDC says that sufficient sleep is increasingly being recognized as an essential aspect of health promotion and chronic disease prevention.
Insufficient sleep is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions—such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.
Additionally, in recent animal studies, scientists have discovered that sleep allows cerebrospinal fluid to more effectively flow throughout the brain's crevices, washing out the gunk, beta-amyloids, that accumulates and is believed to be a major contributor to Alzheimers and other neurodegenerative diseases.
And not just tossing and turning in bed, it's important to get good quality sleep.
In a recent blog post, David Rock, Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, equates a lack of sleep with the same effects as intoxication.
ReplyDeleteHe cites the recent NYC metro accident where the engineer confessed to nodding off on the job. He also cites a lack of sleep as a causative factor in several other well known disasters such as the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, the 1986 nuclear meltdown of Chernobyl, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
"... Beyond the high profile disasters, lack of sleep kills an estimated 1,550 people in the US each year, according to the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration ..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rock/lack-of-care-about-sleep-_b_4441761.html