Sleep deprivation has become a common problem these days with cut-throat competition everywhere. Whether it is the field of business or job or a student preparing for their exams, there is always a social pressure to succeed and inability to adjust our daily busy time table in order to get the required amount of sleep is leading to people becoming victims of “ Global Sleep Crisis”.
Moreover, new technological devices like smartphones that enable wireless communication and media entertainment is making people wake up till late hours in the night and hence cutting down on sleep.
Study indicates that modern-day social pressure is causing ‘Global Sleep Crisis’
A data was compiled by Scientists at the University of Michigan via smartphone app worldwide and the study conducted on the sleeping patterns around the globe showed that modern-day social pressures are the major cause of sleep reduction and eating into more and more of everyone’s bedtime.
Information such as age, gender and even ‘the amount of light that people sleeping are exposed to’ was used and the main aim of the study carried out in 100 countries was to get a clear picture of how cultural pressures are overtaking biological rhythms and body clock.
The amount a person sleeps is affected by a group of 20,000 nerve cells, which are located behind the eyes. They adjust to how much light they are exposed to, especially natural light, which can cause a person to wake up earlier.
According to study “We find that social pressures weaken and/or conceal biological drives in the evening, leading individuals to delay their bedtime and shorten their sleep.”
A lack of sleep can lead to an increase in the risk of becoming obese or contracting diabetes or heart problems. The study found that middle-aged men suffer most from sleep deprivation and get less than the recommended eight hours per day as they are commonly behind the wheel driving trucks, driving aeroplanes and when they do it with so little sleep, that can pose risks to themselves and also to society.”
Excess Sleep also risk to health
Excess of anything is not good and same goes with Sleeping as a recent study showed that getting too much sleep may not be good for you, as those sleeping for more than eight hours face a higher risk of dying from heart disease.
Although previous studies had shown that a lack of sleep was linked to stress, increased blood pressure and the secretion of adrenaline – all of which are factors of an increased risk of heart disease – the effects of too much sleep on heart disease came as a surprise.
