Author Name: Sandra Cabot

Know that sleep is an individual matter; some people need more sleep than others to function efficiently. Some people fall asleep easily and wake up refreshed under any circumstances, while others are easily agitated. If you lie in bed "to sleep," your perception of time may be distorted, and some self-diagnosed insomniacs underestimate the amount of time you sleep. In other words, when you say, "I lie in bed for hours every night," the time you actually slept may have been no more than 20 or 30 minutes. You don't remember anything during deep sleep, and your memory may only be conscious of successive periods of wakefulness. Of course, it's best to sleep throughout the night. How much sleep do you need? Sleep experts disagree on our sleep needs. Some take the advice that we need eight hours a night, while most recommend five to six hours for adults. A few assume that the "normal" adult sleep requirement is three to ten hours, with the caveat that insufficient sleep can lead to illness. You may have heard celebrities boasting that they function on only a few hours of sleep a night. Yet you have no idea whether their decision-making process has deteriorated, or whether, if they had gotten more sleep, conflicts and wars might have been avoided. How do short sleepers relate to their colleagues and families? Are all short sleepers short-tempered, do they have relationship or communication problems, and will they eventually suffer health consequences? When people are in public, they are on their best behavior; therefore, you often have no idea how they are feeling or behaving. Accidents occur due to sleep problems, blunted reactions, mental lapses, rashness, and impatience, which is why we need sleep. Although you may be used to sleep deprivation, you may not realize that prolonged sleep deprivation results in a decline in mental function. It is often believed that getting more sleep can make you more alert.