The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that American adults and children need to prioritize sleep.
The CDC explains that poor sleep has a major impact on mental and physical health. A new research showed that 28 percent of U.S. adults slept not more than six hours every night. According to the health experts, sleep deprivation increases the risk of a wide variety of health problems such as obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and depression. Moreover, lack of sleep can be fatal at times resulting in premature death, which can be caused by diseases or by vehicular accidents.
"[Sleep is] one of the components of a three-legged stool of wellness: nutrition, exercise and sleep," said Safwan Badr, a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a sleep expert with Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University, reports USA Today. "The three are synergistic. It's hard to lose weight if you are sleep deprived. It's hard to eat healthy if you are sleep deprived. It is hard to exercise if you're tired."
Timothy Morgenthaler, a consultant at the Mayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine in Rochester, MN added that one of the main hypotheses is that the primary function of sleep is to help eliminate metabolic waste products of the mental processes in the brain.
"Sleep clears those waste products out and replenishes the energy inside brain cells. When we don't get enough sleep, we actually injure brain cells. The research was done in mice, but I think there is very little doubt that our cognition suffers, and our brain does not function as well when we don't get enough sleep," Morgenthaler explains.
Health experts have time and again said that adults require at least seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Children and youngsters require even nine to 10 hours of sleep ever night. People with sleeping disorders, such as sleep apnea or insomnia, should consult doctors for proper treatment and care.
