Do you take pride in being able to “get by” on little sleep? The reality might be that you are starved not for food, but for sleep. Like a majority of people you might be sleep deprived and not even know it. “Sleep is sort of like food” says Robert Stickgold, a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School. But he adds there’s one important difference: “You can be quite starved and still alive, and I think we must appreciate how horrible that must be. But many of us live on the edge of sleep deprivation and just accept it.” Part of the problem is that we have become so used to being sleep deprived that we don’t even notice how exhausted we really are. The purpose of sleep is more to rest the brain than to rest the body. In fact, most of the benefits of eight hours’ sleep accrue to brain in the form of better memory, better concentration, sharpened problem solving skills and accuracy, improved judgment, better learning and boosted mood.

The human brain is only capable of 16 hours of wakefulness. When people push this limit they have difficulty concentrating, remaining alert and performing basic tasks. Although the mind and body adjust to reduced hours of sleep but the overall performance of affected people continues to plummet. The causes of sleep deprivation are excess of work, time consumed in commuting to and from work and some bad habits which we learn while growing up like, for instance, when we ignored our mom’s advice early in our teens and went to sleep late at night or over slept in the mornings on weekends. Use of social media and face book is another trend these days that keep us busy a number of times. For starters, one should switch off the TV half-an-hour before going to sleep and try to find time for a mid-day siesta. According to experts, the best time for siesta is between noon and 3 pm for 30 to 60 minutes. Experts say that one cannot make up for sleep deprivation at a later date such as in the mornings on a weekend. This disrupts the sleep rhythm, making it even harder later to get a full night’s rest.

According to experts, the need for sleep does not change much with age; however, adolescents require one hour more of sleep. Sleep deprivation not only results in a bad, irritable mood, stress and lack of focus but it also affects us physically. Some psychologists have even found a link between Alzheimer’s disease and sleep in the aging population. One psychologist in university of California at San Diego was able to treat elderly patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer by controlling the underlying sleep disorder. Not only this but sleep deprivation causes obesity, affects your looks, causes diabetics, heart disease and reduces life expectancy. It can be a cause of minor or major accidents too at home or workplace. In short the decrease in brain activity and functioning reduces productivity, safety and personal wellbeing. While sleep deprivation can be short-term or long-term, both are in fact dangerous.

Sleep is the cheapest area to compromise on when we try to work more

Sometimes the need to sleep changes with disruptive illness and the medications used to treat them. For example, for mental disorders, a patient may be given anti-depressants or anti-psychotic drugs which interfere with the sleep regimen. Some researchers have argued that sleeping less is healthy and mostly unhealthy people sleep more. But psychiatrists believe that six to eight hours of sleep is necessary for efficient and effective functioning of the mind and body. Sleep is the cheapest area to compromise on when we try to work more. Many housewives who work as though they are in a 24-hour job compromise on sleep as they are busy taking care of the husband, children, cooking and cleaning. They may also be taking care of outdoor chores and attempt to juggle different responsibilities. Those women who are also working cannot overlook household chores as they attempt to balance their lives. While we think we are achieving more by working longer, we are in reality not as attentive and receptive if sleep needs are not met properly.

If mental sharpness is your goal then the answer is clear “Stop depriving yourself and get a good night’s sleep”. It’s better to be 20pc more productive and efficient the following day than to give 20pc more time to work and deprive yourself of a good night’s sleep.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, April 10th, 2016