you’re even more tired than you think

Sure, you’re functioning. But most of us are exhausted and don’t even realize it any more—and it’s affecting our health, jobs and happiness. A wake-up call

Perhaps you believe you’re doing fine: You bang out projects at the office, power through workouts, throw an awesome dinner party. What’s more, you do it all on about six and a half hours of sleep a night (the national average) — and that’s working for you. Or so you think. But groundbreaking research shows that sleep deprivation can seriously affect how your brain and body function. And most alarming, After a couple of days of skimping, you don’t even feel subpar.

 

Your new (wiped) normal

Basically, what these latest sleep findings are telling us is that we’re all walking zombies and completely clueless about it. So huge is the phenomenon that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared our collective sleep deficit a public epidemic and national health crisis. The reality is, no matter how much we convince ourselves we can operate on so little rest, only 1 percent of people can truly thrive on six hours of shut-eye, says Joseph Ojile, M.D., founder of the Clayton Sleep Institute

In St. Louis. The evidence: People who slept six hours a night for two weeks in one study from the University of Pennsylvania lost as much focus, alertness and working memory as those who’d been up 36 hours. After the first two days, they didn’t even

Report feeling particularly sleepy.

Confounded, researchers dug into why we would acclimate this way. One theory: Your brain, which is trained to respond to change, stops registering chronic exhaustion

Messages from the body once they become old news, says study lead author Hans Van Dongen, Ph.D., head of the Human Sleep and Cognition Laboratory at Washington State University. And because sleep loss may affect your prefrontal cortex (the area that controls thought and self-awareness), you may be too messed up to perceive that you’re zonked.

So you soldier on, feeling invincible when in fact you’re on dimmer.

This is your brain on...yawn

When you’re super sleep-deprived, experts say, your mind can get so fuzzy and your reaction time so sluggish that it’s a lot like being drunk— without knowing it. The

Important work presentation that’s had you pulling late nights for weeks may be taking eons because your lack of zzz’s has been muddying your thinking. And that unfortunate hookup last weekend? Let’s just say that sleep deprivation has been associated with impaired decision making and an increase in high-risk behavior.

Meanwhile, your scale may be registering signs of trouble even if your brain isn’t. Sleep deprivation can increase levels of ghrelin, a hormone that regulates appetite.

These hunger signals put you at risk for mindless snacking and for extra pounds, say Kristen Knutson, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. “Studies have found that people who sleep less are, on average, heavier.”

Immunity can also take a hit, Dr. Ojile ads, which may explain those recurring colds. Ultimately, the risks to your health far exceed the sniffles, per new Australian research: Young drivers who reported sleeping less than six hours on weekend nights were up to 55 percent more likely to cause an accident. Depressed yet? That may be

Due to lack of sleep, too, as studies also show that adequate shut-eye buffers you from mood swings and stress.

                         

Real-life tips for quality sleep

1 Your first step: acceptance

The three habits that experts consider cold, hard proof of sleep deprivation: You rely on cafeine to make it through the day, every day (even with a good night’s sleep); you can’t wake up on time without an alarm; and on weekends you have to sleep in for hours.

2 Quit considering sleep a luxury.

Experts say too many young women view sleep as a treat, like a facial or new shoes.

“Consider sleep as crucial to well-being as proper diet and exercise,” says Kristen

Knutson, Ph.D.

3 Increase hours painlessly.

Go to bed 15 minutes earlier every night for a week, then add another 15 the next week and so on, says Joseph Ojile, M.D.: “Tiny increments are less daunting but can make

a major difference. In a month, you’ll be sleeping an hour more every night.”

4 Trick out your bedroom.

Set the thermometer 3 degrees below your daytime norm—65 to 68 degrees for most of us. Your body temp naturally drops when you sleep, and a cool room helps it along. A dim lamp before bedtime, too; light makes your pineal gland inhibit melatonin, a hormone that regulates your sleep cycle.

5 Resist the siren call of the screen.

Shut down your iStuf, TV and computer an hour before you crash; artificial light fools your brain’s hypothalamus (the part that transitions you into sleep) into thinking it’s daytime. If you absolutely can’t resist a peek at email, at least hold the phone at arm’s length to minimize the effects.

6 Don’t drink and sleep.

Middle-of-the-night bladders calls aren’t doing your good night’s sleep any favors,

so try not to down a lot of liquid before bedtime— especially anything alcoholic. Although booze can make you drowsy right after you drink it, several hours later you might wake up; experts hypothesize that’s because falling blood alcohol levels disrupt your sleep, particularly R.E.M.— the deepest kind.

7 Beat that 2 A.M. wide-eyes thing

Wakefulness issues —lying in bed totally alert in the middle of the night getting up earlier than you want to—are common sleep problems, even if insomnia gets all the

Attention. White noise helps; the steady whir of a fan or a wave machine can soothe you into slumber and cancel out middle-of the- night car horns and your partner’s snoring (plus frustration about said snoring).

Health Information Systems __ 
 you’re even more tired than you think _
Real-life tips for quality sleep

By Lee Walker Helland

Source: Alcohol-sleep disruption, Timothy Roehrs, Ph.D., director of research, Sleep Disorders and Research Center, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit