Talk to any industrious adult out there, and it’s likely they’ll tell you about their lack of sleep. The belief that one has to choose between earning well and getting adequate rest is so prevalent, it’s almost a universally accepted truth. Tales of overworked executives, authors, and shift workers frequently pop up in casual chats, reinforcing the idea that giving up sleep is a necessity for financial comfort. Given the significant role that finances play in our lives, many opt to prioritize earning over sleeping, when faced with choosing between the two.

But do they? There may be professions you can aim for if you want to balance your monthly income with a healthy, sensible sleep schedule. This article aims to explore just that and provide info on where you can get a job that allows you to get enough rest to avoid illness and fatigue. We will look at various fields and use the American Time Use Survey (ATUS, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) to determine who gets paid the most and who sleeps the most. The idea that career success often has to come at the cost of the person’s health doesn’t hold as much water as some people claim, fortunately. However, there is some truth in such claims. Let’s get into it.

What Was Our Methodology?

We were mainly concerned with US residents and their average income and amount of time spent asleep per night (on average). In order to get reliable information, we looked towards the ATUS. This survey was conducted with 10,000 respondents, and the information they willingly revealed about their monthly income, sleep, and other factors. This data was contained within three separate yet connected ATUS resources, each of which was designed to collect specific types of information from the respondents. The sources we consulted were:

• The ATUS Respondent data file, which was created to store information about the wage and employment status of each respondent. This file is where we pulled income numbers from to get our results.
• The ATUS Activity Summary data file, which contains detailed information on the sleeping habits of every respondent. As the purpose of this article is to measure how much sleep common professions “allow,” this file played an instrumental role in our research.
• The ATUS Roster data file, containing basic information provided by the respondents, including age, gender, etc. While this information played a somewhat lesser role in our overall assessment, it helped paint a clearer picture as to who’s the most susceptible to sleep deprivation.

Getting the data is only the first step. With this information “in hand,” we could start our analysis. The second step was to reduce the number of entries only to those that would fit our criteria. It means we were forced to remove entries where the respondent did not provide necessary information about their wage and work schedule (meaning their precise work hours, more or less). This filter alone reduced the number of entries to around 3,150, but we were not finished. It was important to establish a strict set of criteria, which meant the removal of entries where subjective interpretations caused skewed responses when it came to employment status (where the respondents would give vague or non-specific answers due to working as contractors or working part-time). At the end of our filtration and limitation process, we were left with a rough figure of 1500 respondents. While it’s hard to assume that our numbers mirror the population at large, we consider it a suitable enough sample size to make the estimate we needed to make.

The Results

The ultimate goal was to compare professions based on how much money they generate and how much sleep they tend to allow (or “take away”). The results were mixed in the sense that some of the estimates follow what you might hear in casual conversations among non-specialists, whereas others deviated further from our original expectations from when we began this process. As a whole, we’ve discovered that there is a considerable amount of truth behind the idea that good salaries often “necessitate” bad sleeping habits, not every profession fits into this mold. We will list a good amount of professions to paint a clear picture as to where you should seek employment if you value your sleeping hours (which you should, for the sake of your health and the safety of those around you).

For example, it shouldn’t surprise you that lawyers and other legal specialists generate some of the highest salaries (often earning around $1850 over the course of a 42-hour work week on average). However, this comes at a cost – with legal specialists being closer to the lower extreme of hours spent asleep (with an average of 7.2 hours per day, but frequent situations where they get less than 6 hours in a given night). Legal cases impose a lot of stress on the worker and often demand extra hours of effort, which can all add up to a very unstable sleeping schedule and frequent scenarios where the person is functioning on a small amount of sleep. Additionally, there is a large pay gap between the lower and higher ends of the legal hierarchy, to the point where paralegal specialists and people in similar positions often don’t make enough money to justify the hit to their sleep schedules.  

One of the worst possible places to be in your career is the position of a healthcare assistant or medical aide. These jobs are demanding and stressful, creating a problem where it’s very hard to hit the recommended value of 8 hours of sleep per night, especially since shift work is often involved (we will talk about this separately, later on in the article). In the worst case scenario, a person in this position may expect to go to work with less than 6 hours of rest the previous night. The reward for this level of effort is nothing to brag about either – healthcare assistants and aides make an average of $426 per week, which is definitely one of the lowest figures we’ve noticed.

If you’re looking for good rest but aren’t bothered by a low salary (for whatever reason), you want to look towards food service or personal care industries. Bartenders, hairdressers, and waiters average in at close to 9 hours of sleep per night on average, which is more than enough to keep you healthy and energized. However, these positions often come with some of the worst salaries you can find, with an average value of around $400 or slightly less.

Working in the art industry can mean many things, but in this case, we will focus on graphic designers, fine art, film editing, and 3d model work. You most likely won’t find an optimal amount of sleep in these fields. The average amount of hours spent sleeping per night hovers at around 7, with situations where you have to sleep for roughly 5.5 hours on some days. However, the pay isn’t bad at all – work schedules that demand only around 32 hours of work each week can result in salaries of $1050. If you’re really lucky (or simply amazing at your job), you could see salaries that approach $1700-1800, which makes jobs like graphic design incredibly appealing.

One of the most rewarding professions when it comes to both monthly income and sleep economy is coding. Programmers and math scientists regularly clock in almost 8 hours of sleep per night, which lets them focus on their work that much more effectively. This increase in efficiency may have something to do with their earnings – programmers usually work around 50 hours per week (at worst), but they rake in almost as much money as lawyers (who have to work a lot more) – around $1750 per month on average. If you’re trying to choose something to study, coding may be the way to go, as it is always in demand (and seems to be accelerating due to the exponential growth of technology in the modern age). You get to sleep a lot and also improve your life using a chunky salary.

Workplace Risks and Sleep

While it’s safe to consider any job unhealthy for your sleep if it offers you less than 7 hours of sleep per night on average, there are other, less obvious problems to consider. Fatigue (often called excessive daytime sleepiness) is the most common result of any sleeping problem (including sleep disorders), and it causes the person in question to become way less efficient at virtually anything they do. Your perception gets considerably worse, and you start to miss things you would notice on more hours of sleep. You become more prone to taking risks, and your memory, hand-eye coordination, and similar things take a massive drop in quality.

As a result of all this, workplace accidents become more likely when you’re involved, if you have fatigue. Some job positions put you at more risk simply through what you have to do to perform your job. We’ll use transportation jobs as an example – both drivers and pilots are put in potentially extreme danger if they’re sleep-deprived. They endanger not only themselves but also their passengers and anyone in the immediate area. Driving jobs often don’t limit your ability to get proper rest, but they’re the worst possible thing you could be doing if you’re heavily fatigued. Drivers sadly also make poor salaries.

Keep in mind that any kind of job that involves mandatory shift work is practically guaranteed to ruin your sleep schedule and cause lots of fatigue, even if it pays well. Sometimes the hours spent working don’t mean everything, as the nature of the job could expose you to health risks or direct physical danger. Know what you’re getting into when applying for work – a person with an established sleep disorder should not work in positions that require precision or good reflexes, for example.

Have you ever been stumped by a tricky test or puzzled by a complicated riddle? A piece of advice often given by those around us is to “sleep on it.” It might seem easy to dismiss this suggestion as just an unfounded recommendation or simply an old wives’ tale without any real advantage, yet the reality is, the amount of sleep you get profoundly influences your efficiency. Many individuals fail to recognize the connection between quality sleep and enhanced performance because they’re not aware of the profound impacts of sleep on both their physical and mental welfare. Even though the advice to get 8 hours of sleep is widely known, not everyone understands the importance of this specific quantity for their overall health.

That’s where we come in. In this article, we aim to connect sleep and productivity by showing how fatigue can make you much less efficient at whatever you’re doing, as well as provide tips on how you can organize and maintain a strict, healthy sleep schedule that improves your daily performance in all aspects of life. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

The Connection Between Sleep and Productivity

There are at least a few logical claims we can make that most people can relate to or at least keep up with, even without any knowledge of how sleep works. As many as 50% of US residents report experiencing problems in their daily life (especially at work) as a consequence of sleep deprivation, even if it’s not a chronic issue. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, really – we associate long work hours with fatigue, exhaustion, and stress even without factoring in potentially inadequate rest. Unfortunately, most people don’t have to imagine how bad it gets when you’re sleep-deprived. Around the late 19th century, work shifts were getting reduced from 9 to 8 hours, as people came to realize that working for longer than 8 hours made workers inefficient, susceptible to accidents and generally exhausted.

Eight hours of work per day turns into 40 over the course of a work week. Now think about how many people you know that work more than that. A lot of working adults have an inadequate sleeping schedule and suffer the consequences of sleep deprivation and fatigue. A lot of fatigue symptoms and consequences are subtle and hard to notice by the person in question – but they can be crippling and potentially life-threatening under the right circumstances. For starters, your mood drops significantly – sleep-deprived people often display signs of irritability, and they’re much more prone to taking unnecessary risks. Your memory and information processing take a dip as well, making it harder to do a lot of office jobs. On top of that, your hand-eye coordination gets considerably worse, as does your awareness of your surroundings and the ability to stay focused. These issues are particularly threatening for people who drive or do jobs with inherent risk factors.

As a rule, sleep deprivation is a problem when the person in question sleeps for less than six hours the previous night. It has been determined that running on 6 hours of “gas” is almost the same as being sleep-deprived for a whole 24 hours in terms of performance and associated risks. However, it’s a common misconception that the number of hours is all there is to healthy sleep.

Think of it this way – have you ever slept for a combined total of 10 hours in one day and still felt tired and unfocused? Clearly just reaching a number isn’t what makes sleep restorative. The amount of time spent asleep (or sleep quantity) is only one side of the coin in this situation, and it’s equally as important to consider sleep quality (how efficient and healthy the sleep was).

Sleep architecture is a term most people don’t have a firm grasp on. For this majority, sleep stages and rapid eye movement are vague terms that have something to do with dreaming, but the full picture is key to understanding how sleep affects our productivity. Sleep architecture is the natural progression of sleep through specific stages. The order is light sleep, then deep sleep, and then finally REM sleep before looping back to light sleep. Each of these stages is characterized by specific repairs and chemical procedures that occur in your body. While you sleep, your brain orchestrates things like memory consolidation (primarily in light and REM sleep), muscle tissue repair, immune system maintenance, blood sugar regulation, and many other processes.

Because each stage has its purpose and benefits, it is important to cycle through them with as little interference as possible. Having your sleep interrupted reduces the amount of time you spend in deep and REM sleep. This problem is frequently called “fragmented sleep,” as it happens when someone wakes up multiple times per night. Fragmented sleep robs you of all the benefits that come with non-light sleep, making you incredibly inefficient the following day. Naturally, this affects your performance at work and even the economy overall (once you factor in how many working adults deal with sleep deprivation – sleep deprivation hurts our economy by around $411 billion each year). Students also have trouble learning things efficiently due to insufficient time spent in REM sleep. Athletes recover from muscle strain much slower if they regularly experience sleep-deprivation and fragmented sleep.

Then there’s the concept of our circadian rhythm. It is a biological rhythm managed and influenced by a “master clock” in our brain stem that uses light receptors to tell our body when it’s time to go to sleep through hormone production and secretion. A lot of our bodily processes are affected by our circadian rhythm, but this rhythm is incredibly easy to disrupt and throw off-balance by a quick series of bad sleep decisions or unfortunate events (such as workplace emergencies). Because our hormones control much more than when we sleep, a disrupted circadian rhythm can cripple us in many aspects of our daily life. It can be very hard to get your rhythm back on track if you have to deal with something like shift work or a sleep disorder.

Improve Productivity Through Better Sleep

There is no shortcut to healthy sleep. Bad sleeping habits are just another lifestyle situation that you have to approach strategically and with dedication, much like diets or exercise routines. Being disciplined enough to manage your sleep is not always easy, but it pays off in more ways than you can imagine. Here’s a list of tips you can work on to achieve better sleep, and thus increased productivity:

• Establish and maintain a strict and smart sleep schedule. While the amount of sleep we would recommend to adults is 7-7.5 hours each night, your individual needs may differ. People have what’s called a chronotype, which basically determines when they like to sleep and when they’re most productive. If possible, adapt your work schedule (or whatever other obligations) to your chronotype, not the other way around. That way, you ensure that you’ll wake up feeling more refreshed than you normally would. Make it a personal goal to follow your new sleep schedule to the letter, with no exceptions unless an emergency occurs (which is rare).
• Train your brain to associate your bed with sleeping and sex only. Cognitive therapy often involves something like this, as it’s effective and takes very little if any money. Simply avoid doing any unnecessary activities in your bed, such as eating, watching TV, making phone calls, etc. If your mind treats the bed as a source of comfort and relaxation, it becomes that much easier to fall asleep without unpleasant delays – and to follow your sleep schedule!
• Create a bedtime routine. This routine normally takes anywhere between 30-90 minutes, depending on the person’s available time and other factors. The idea is that you want to make a strict routine of relaxing activities that you perform every single day before bedtime. These activities can include a warm bath, some light exercise, meditation, writing down a shopping list for tomorrow, drinking warm tea, etc. This method trains your body to relax automatically as bedtime approaches, as humans like sticking to routines.
• Maintain a steady and healthy diet. Some of the most harmful factors that lead to sleep disruption come from what we eat and drink. Coffee and alcohol are common in practically every adult household, but they both damage your ability to fall and stay asleep. Avoid sugary and greasy foods, as your blood sugar levels are also connected to your ability to produce sleep-related hormones like melatonin and cortisol. You’re allowed to have cheat days, but don’t get stuffed full of sleep-ruining foods and drinks close to bedtime.
• Get some exercise, preferably outside. Exposure to sunlight goes a long way towards synchronizing and maintaining your circadian rhythm, and exercise has a whole host of benefits even if you remove sleep from the equation. When it comes to sleeping, it helps to get physically tired before bedtime, although we recommend avoiding massive strain and difficult routines. Much like how you open your window to get fresh air and relax, try to have a jog or fast walk right before you begin your bedtime routine.
• Try establishing a morning routine, too. Being able to wake up at the same time each day takes some discipline and often practice. Come up with a routine that helps you kickstart your day, whether it involves a tasty cup of coffee (or tea), some light exercise, a morning shower, or whatever you think helps you break the morning drowsiness. Nothing feels worse than going into your office while groggy and exhausted, so teach yourself to prevent that issue.
• Separate yourself from your smartphone during the evening and morning. Blue light has been shown to damage our sleep, and while any electronic device can do this, smartphones are the most common source because we use them to stay in touch with anyone and everyone. Avoid obsessing over emails before bed or first thing in the morning. A simple and small change like this can have a surprisingly positive effect on your sleep every day. If you have the technology and a really important need to do so, program your notifications to only make noises and draw attention if it’s work-related or similarly important to your productivity.
• If you’re experiencing serious difficulty falling asleep, consult your doctor as soon as possible. You may be dealing with one of many sleep disorders that are preventing you from getting the rest you need and deserve, and the sooner you get checked out, the better.

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Sleeping Positions for Staying Healthy – Sleeping on the Side

Your sleep quality is affected by multiple factors – it isn’t just how dark and quiet your room is or what music you listen to before you hit the hay – it’s how you lay your body down, too.

So, is there such thing like the best sleep position? According to science, the answer is sleeping on your side. In many ways, side sleepers have it better than others with different sleep positions. However, the benefits of side sleep actually depend on which side you prefer. Watch this video and check out our infographic to find out how side sleeping benefits your health.

Side Sleeping Benefits

Benefits of sleeping on your side are directly related to your physiology.

Sleeping on the side allows your spine to remain in its natural and neutral position while particularly sleeping on the left is recommended if you are pregnant, snore or struggle with health conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea. This sleep position is beneficial for snoring and OSA because it helps to open up a crowded oropharynx. Side sleeping is recommended if you have carpal tunnel syndrome because it protects your wrists from pressure during sleep. It also elongates the spine which helps to alleviate neck and back pain.

A recent study shows that the benefits of side sleeping go beyond expected and may boost your brain health.

A study performed at Stony Brook University in New York and published in The Journal of Neuroscience investigated how body posture during sleep affects brain waste removal in mice. The results suggest that sleeping on your side help the brain’s glymphatic system clear waste more effectively than sleeping on the back or stomach.

In order to understand this, we have to explain what the brain’s glymphatic system is, and how our body posture affects it.

The glymphatic system consists of a brain wide pathway that facilitates the exchange of spinal fluid with interstitial fluid, and has the role of clearing interstitial waste from the brain parenchyma. When this waste isn’t cleared properly, we become more prone to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia. The interstitial waste from the brain parenchyma moves into the perivenous pathways and ultimately gets cleared out via cervical lymphatic vessels.

As you know by now, our brain is active the most during sleep and this is the time when the process of brain waste removal occurs. Side sleeping position elongates the spine and allows faster waste clearance. Other sleep positions may slow down this process or result in brain waste retention.

Therefore, by improving the functioning of the brain’s glymphatic system, we can reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia.

It’s important to mention that side sleeping also comes with some downsides such as unwanted skin aging. Studies show that constantly placing one side of your face on the pillow can cause wrinkles, or even lead to saggy breasts. You’re also more likely to disrupt circulation in your arm, because of the pressure of your body, and wake up with an uncomfortable, tingling pins and needles feeling (also known as paresthesia). Side sleepers typically toss and turn in sleep more often than back sleepers, which may lead to less restful sleep.

Sleep on Which Side is Better, Left or Right?

As mentioned, sleeping on the left or right side has its advantages and disadvantages.

Left side sleeping

Left side sleeping is recommended for:

• Acid reflux – studies show acid reflux is worse when people lie on their right side.
• Pregnant women – are advised to sleep on their left side, to help circulation and blood flow to the placenta. Expecting mothers, especially those entering their 6 month of pregnancy, should avoid sleeping on their backs as this may cause the heavy uterus to press on major blood vessels (such as the inferior vena cava that has the role to return blood to the heart) which could lead to a drop in the blood pressure.
• Digestion – studies confirm that left-side sleeping helps digestion. Your stomach’s and pancreas’ natural position is on your left side. This position allows both organs to make sure the body keeps creating stomach juices and pancreatic enzymes that help with the process of digestion.
• Sleep-related breathing disorders – people who snore or have obstructive sleep apnea are encouraged to sleep on the left side in order to open up a crowded oropharynx.
• Vagus nerve arrhythmias – the vagus nerve connects the heart, brain, and the gut, and due to this unique connection, it may be one of the essential causes of arrhythmia. When vagus nerve is stimulated, parasympathetic activity gets increased which is the opposite of sympathetic stimulation also known as the fight or flight response. So, to quiet your vagus nerve at night, studies suggest that you may want to try sleeping on your left side.
• Bradycardia – If you have slow heart rate at night, sleeping on your left side could stimulate a sympathetic response and increase your heart rate.

However, left side sleeping may put a strain on your internal organs like the pancreas, kidney and spleen, along with the heart. When sleeping on the left, the internal organs in the thorax can shift, and the lungs may weigh heavily on the heart. This increased pressure may impact the heart’s function, potentially worsening heart strain in heart failure. The heart may respond to the increased pressure by activating the kidneys, increasing urination at night.

Right side sleeping

Right side sleeping is especially recommended for heart health. Some scientists think the age-related preference for right-side sleeping is an instinctive, protective response for the heart, and studies show that people with heart failure tend to avoid sleeping on their left sides.

Based on the science, there are four major reasons why you may want to consider sleeping on the right.

• Shortness of breath – heart patients breathe better sleeping on their right side. Heart patients intuitively sleep on the right side. The reason for this isn’t entirely clear, but it’s probably connected with a better venous return and lower pressures within the heart and lungs.
• Optimum cardiac output – cardiac output may be better with right side sleeping for the same reasons as number one above.  As gravity pulls the heart toward the center of the chest it may help optimize cardiac performance.
• Alleviate palpitations – Palpitations can be described as the sensation of your heart not beating correctly.  When sleeping on the right side, the heart is in the center of your chest which may alleviate palpitations.  In contrast, when you are on your left side, the heart is pulled to the chest wall, and you may feel every irregular beat of your heart.

Patients with atrial fibrillation often report that they experience fewer arrhythmias when sleeping on the right side, however, there is still no research that could confirm this.

• Lower heart rate and less sympathetic nervous activity – the sympathetic nervous system is the body’s fight or flight response, and it often makes our heart rate and blood pressure go up. Sympathetic nervous system stimulation makes patients’ heart failure, chest pain, or arrhythmias worse.  

Right side sleeping is not recommended for:

• Heartburn –several studies have found that sleeping on the right side aggravates heartburn while sleeping on the left tends to calm it. The reason is not entirely clear. One hypothesis holds that right-side sleeping relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, between the stomach and the esophagus.
• Patients with pulmonary conditions – with gravity shifting the internal organs to the right, the heart will shift the mediastinum towards the right lung. This will reduce the volume of the lung, and this may be important in certain pulmonary conditions. Left side sleeping also constricts the ribcage, which causes the lungs to strain for oxygen.

If you are an overall healthy person, it’s healthier to sleep on your right side and avoid putting unnecessary strain on your major internal organs. Right side sleeping is also beneficial if you struggle with a heart condition. However, if you are sleeping for two, or struggle with OSA and GERD, left-side sleeping is more recommended.

Quick Tips for Sleeping on the Side

To minimize the disadvantages of side sleeping, it’s important to get a good pillow and a good mattress.

The ideal models are the ones that support the natural alignment of the body. When lying on your back, your body is properly aligned when an imaginary horizontal line that goes through your ear to the rest of your body is completely parallel. When you lie on your side, the horizontal line running through your nose should be in line with the rest of the body.

Once you have a good pillow and mattress, sleeping with some extra pillows may enhance the health benefits of sleeping on the side.

How to sleep with 3 pillows:

•    The first pillow goes under your head to ensure it doesn’t tilt down
•    The second pillow goes under your waist, so your stomach doesn’t curve down
•    The third pillow goes between your legs to ensure your spine stays in a neutral position during the entire night

So, why is this important? As a side sleeper, apart from keeping your spine properly aligned, you must also keep the right and left side of your body as symmetrical as possible.

For example, crossing the left upper leg over the right lower one is not recommended as it would cause the left upper knee to drop and the left hip to be rolled forward, causing your lower spine to twist which may result in lower back pain.

Instead, keep the legs bent at the knee, one on top of the other so that the lower leg can support the upper one. Putting a pillow between bent knees will re-center your body, and hugging a pillow will help to support the upper arm and leg. If you have large hips, and there is space between the waist and the bed when you lie on the side, put a rolled towel underneath to prevent your body from sagging downward.

Wrapping up

Side sleeping is one of the most popular sleep positions worldwide; however, if you prefer to snooze differently, you shouldn’t force yourself to sleep on the side. The same goes if you prefer right side over left and vice versa. Sleeping is a personal experience, and you will benefit the most from it if you snooze in a position you find most comfortable.

Now it’s your turn.

What do you notice about your health when you sleep in different positions? Comment below

Moving on to college is a pivotal moment in our lives. It’s the phase where we leave our parents’ home, losing the comfort of someone cooking for us, waking us up in the morning, doing our laundry, washing the dishes, and taking care of myriad other household tasks. With the commencement of our college journey, we bear the full weight of our decisions and tasks. College represents a transformative era, where we learn the true value of being independent and self-reliant. It also opens up opportunities for us to build new relationships, explore innovative concepts, and participate in diverse activities. This is the reason it is often regarded as one of the most exhilarating periods in a person’s life. However, in the midst of all this enthusiasm, the significance of getting enough sleep frequently gets overlooked.

Students often forget that they need to get at least seven hours of shut-eye each night, and as a consequence, they are sleep-deprived on a regular basis. They tend to take pride in being night owls and waking up early in the morning after only a few hours of rest. Getting enough sleep can be especially difficult for college students as they have a lot going on. Although it may seem to them that it is not possible to sleep well in college and still have good grades and excellent social life, it is possible. Students face many obstacles to getting proper rest, such as stress, overbooked schedule, noisy roommates, and more, but sleep is essential, and it is the key to staying healthy, maximizing the academic potential and sustaining new friendships. Keep in mind that dorm life doesn’t have to result in restless nights. Here are some useful tips that can help you get enough sleep regularly: 

Transform Your College Dorm into a Sleep Sanctuary 

If you want to sleep well, you need a sleep-supportive environment. There are many ways in which you can accomplish this goal. Some of the things that you can do include: 

Choose the Room Colors 

Sharing a small room with a stranger you just met is something that you need to get used to. These tiny rooms can start feeling overcrowded and tight very quickly, which is not perfect for relaxing. If you want to make your room feel more relaxing and look a bit bigger, you should opt for a soft color palette. Busy patterns and bright colors can make your room feel even more cluttered, and they also don’t stimulate sleep. On the other hand, calming soft room colors can have a positive impact on the quality and duration of shut-eye. 

Make Sure Your Room is Dark 

If you want to increase the chances of getting enough good night’s rest, you need to ensure that your room is dark. Sometimes even the slightest bit of light can have an adverse impact on your rest, no matter if it is because of the digital alarm clock, or the streetlight from the outside. If you want to make sure that your body produces enough sleep hormones it needs, you should do everything you can to keep your room completely dark. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to close the blinds or add blackout curtains. Very often, curtains and drapes in dorm rooms are transparent, and they don’t block out the outside light very well, which can disrupt your sleep. You should get new drapes that are thick and won’t let the light in while you sleep. 

Upgrade Your Bed 

College dorms provide the students with a bed frame and a mattress, but these mattresses are usually not of good quality, and people have been sleeping on them for years. Very often, they are not very comfortable, and they are beyond their lifespan. One of the most significant investments that you can make when moving into your dorm is to buy a new mattress. Old and uncomfortable mattresses can contribute to poor sleep, back problems, and more, and can have an impact on your health and academic performance. Don’t worry; you can find great models at affordable prices. In case you can’t afford a new mattress, or can’t buy one because it isn’t allowed, another solution is to get a mattress pad. These pads will not only give a new feel to an old bed but also protect the mattress from further damage. You should also consider getting a new pillow that matches your firmness and thickness preferences, and that will fit well with your sleep position. Dorm pillows are often old, and they may contain mold and other allergens that can disrupt your sleep, and they lack the comfort. 

Make Sure Your Room Smells Nice 

Most students who live in a college dorm are not used to household responsibilities such as doing the laundry and cleaning. The lack of these habits can result in an unpleasant odor that can develop in your room over time, or in the building. If you notice that your room smells funky, you should do something about it. For example, you should stock up on cleaning supplies that have a fresh and pleasant smell. College rooms often get dirty very quickly as they are small, and two or more people without cleaning habits live in them. If you want to avoid staying in a smelly room, you need to buy cleaning supplies with fresh smell for your bathroom and furniture. You will sleep much more comfortably if your room is clean, dust-free and smells nice.  

Another thing that you should consider is using essential oils. You can choose from a wide variety of fragrances, and they have affordable prices. You can also purchase cheap oil diffuser. Not only your room will have a pleasant smell, but it will also help you relax and prepare you for sleep. 

Consider Using Sleep Gear 

In case you need more sleep, it would be a good idea to consider using sleep gear. Earplugs are the most common solutions of students who can’t seem to get adequate rest because of the noise. If you decide to use them, they will block out the noise from the outside and inside, including sounds coming from your roommate or residence hall. They are very cheap, and you can find them at almost any drugstore. Another excellent solution is a sleep mask, as these masks block out inside and outside light and give you the darkness that you need to get enough good night’s sleep. 

Buy Some Plants 

If you want to improve your mood and make your room feel more like at home, it would be an excellent idea to consider buying a couple of houseplants and place them around your room. Not only the place will be more comfortable and feel more natural, but it will also help you sleep better. Some plants are very easy to take care of, and they are ideal for purifying the air. 

Improve Your Habits and Sleep Hygiene 

When it comes to sleeping in college, if you want to improve the duration and quality of shut-eye, you should establish good habits and proper daily routines. Some of the things that can help you sleep better at night include: 

Avoid Caffeine and Energy Drinks 

You already know that caffeine keeps you awake; that’s why you probably consume it. However, you are probably not aware that it can keep you up almost 8 hours later. That’s why you shouldn’t have caffeine too late in the day. Otherwise, it can disrupt your sleep. It is the best idea to avoid drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages after 4 or 5 p.m. If you need an energy lift later, you should take a walk. Drink juice, water, or any other beverage that is free of caffeine in the late afternoon and evening. Another common way to fight sleep deprivation is opting for energy drinks. However, eating fruits and exercising a bit will have the same effect, and these things won’t keep you up at night. 

Don’t Drink Too Much Alcohol 

Many students start drinking in college; it is very common. However, you need to be careful not to overdo it as something like this can have severe consequences. Besides drinking reasonable amounts of alcohol, you should also be careful not to do it in the evening. If you don’t want alcohol to disrupt your sleep quality, don’t consume it at least a few hours before going to bed. It will make you feel tired and hungry, and it maybe makes sense that it will help you sleep better at night, but it has a completely positive effect. Alcohol can help you fall asleep faster, but as you sober up at night, you will fail to get enough deep sleep, which will have an adverse impact on you. 

Limit the Screen Time 

Maybe you are not aware of this, but the blue light from television, tablets, smartphones, and computers stimulates the brain and can disrupt our circadian rhythm. Although many college students tend to check their phones a lot throughout the day, you should avoid it at least one or two hours before sleep. It may sound difficult to accomplish, but it will have a significant positive impact on your sleep patterns. If you avoid using electronic devices before going to bed, it will help your brain prepare for sleep. Don’t let your phone get in a way of your ZZZ’s. If you need help falling asleep, you should read a book, listen to relaxing music, or write about your pre-bedtime habits in a sleep diary.  

Keep a Sleep Schedule 

If you go to bed at the same time every evening, over time your body will get used to this schedule, and you will become tired at specific times, based on this habit. On the other hand, if you switch your schedule constantly, your body will have a hard time determining when the right time for sleep is. Of course, something like this can be hard to do in college, which is not surprising with so much going on, especially during the exam period, but you need to do your best to accomplish this.  

Be Careful with Daily Naps 

Taking a nap is a perfect way for students to give themselves a quick boost from a busy academic day. Daily napping can be quite beneficial as they won’t feel sleepy anymore, and they will feel refreshed, full of energy, and be able to cope with different academic challenges that await them. However, the best time for taking a nap is early afternoon, or after lunch. If you decide to take a nap in the evening or the late afternoon, it will probably mess with your sleep. Also, your naps shouldn’t be longer than one hour, but it is the best idea to limit them to 30 minutes. 

Consider Making a To-Do List 

If you tend to worry a lot, and are under stress most of the time, making a to-do list can help you. If you write down your obligations and other things that you need to do, you won’t have to worry about them as you will be able to organize your time better and take care of all these things without stressing out about them. Something like this will have a positive impact on your stress levels, and it will help you relax and fall asleep in the evening. You can also make a list of things that you have done during the day, as it can help you reflect on positive things and it will put you in a positive mood. If you still have troubles relaxing and sleeping, and are still under a lot of stress, breathing exercises can help you relax. 

College Students and Sleep – Why is it Important? 

Unfortunately, most students don’t pay enough attention to sleep and don’t make it their top priority. As a result, their health and academic performance can suffer. Sleep is the key to staying healthy and being at the top of their game. Reasons why sleep is vital for college students include: 

Sleep Affects Your Grades 

If you want to get good grades and remember what you have learned in classes, you need to get at least seven hours of shut-eye. The amount of rest that students get has an impact on their academic success. Sleep prevents the decay of memories and helps students learn new things and consolidate memories. When they don’t get enough rest, they need to work harder, but won’t achieve the same results. According to research, students with irregular sleep schedules are more likely to have lower grades. 

Sleep Impacts Your Mood 

When students lack rest, they tend to be more hostile and irritable, and they get stressed easily. When things don’t go their way, sleep-deprived students are more likely to react negatively. On the other hand, when they are well-rested, they are in a better mood and react better to different challenges that they face. 

Lack of Sleep Affects You in More Ways Than You Realize 

Other consequences of rest deprivation include: 

• Higher risk of depression 
• Impaired athletic performance 
• Low energy 
• Fatigue 
• Poor focus 
• Impaired creativity 
• Increased risk of injuries 
• Cognitive impairment 
• Weight gain 
• Higher risk of illnesses 
• Lowered immune system 
• Anxiety 

Our daily lives are continually disrupted; whether it’s the demands of our jobs, navigating personal relationships, or indulging in our favorite pastimes, we’re faced with a myriad of tasks and obstacles vying for our attention. Amid the chaos of our daily routines, it’s easy for us to neglect our basic needs and overlook potential dangers in our surroundings. This neglect often manifests in poor dietary choices or a chaotic daily agenda. Yet, an aspect that commonly goes unnoticed in both our waking and sleeping routines is the significance of maintaining home security and safety. Ensuring our environment is secure plays a vital role in our mental tranquility and health, which is key for a restorative night’s sleep.

Sit down and try to think about how many potential injuries and burglaries are waiting to happen thanks to how you’ve organized your home and how much you’ve invested in safety measures. There are many ways you can improve the safety of your sleeping environment, and this article will include a variety of tips and methods you can follow. Keep in mind that every living space has its quirks and issues you may have to work through, so you may have to adapt the advice to your specific circumstances. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Tips and Tricks for Preventing Burglaries

Burglaries take up a huge portion of property crime, which often causes various sources to present burglary rates as a separate statistic. If you look it up yourself, you will find out that burglary rates are dropping across the United States. However, this doesn’t mean they’re a non-issue or a minor problem. Because of how unlikely it seems that you would be specifically targeted, people often ignore problems around the house that could give a potential thief an opening to loot your home when you’re not there (or worse, when you’re asleep).

Burglaries also pose a direct danger to anyone present, as the culprit may decide to resort to violence to escape the situation or directly threaten the homeowner or his family. The approach that carries the least amount of risk is always prevention – making sure no one can intrude in the first place. It can be achieved through a variety of methods and, while these methods cost money, any price is acceptable when it comes to making a safe sleeping environment for yourself (and your loved ones). It doesn’t hurt to get creative, as long as you don’t go overboard and create serious hazards that can injure your family or innocent passers-by. Here’s a list of tips:

• Invest in door and window locks. Doors and windows are obvious entry points into your house or apartment and should be treated as safety risks until you secure them properly. Around 20% of Americans rarely or never lock their door, which means burglars don’t even have to try very hard to enter their homes. For ground-level homes, windows are another entry point even if the door is secure. While it takes money to get reliable deadbolts, locks, and window stops, you don’t have to spend a fortune, and it pays off for years to come.

30% of all burglars enter through an unlocked door or window. Remember to secure all exterior doors, not just your front door. Also, while leaving a window open in your bedroom during the night is often very healthy and soothing, you’re putting your home at increased risk. If the window is relatively small, install metal bars that prevent anyone from entering, or invest in window stops that let you open the window just enough to let air in without creating enough space for a potential intruder to squeeze through.

• If you have the budget for them, install security cameras. Just the sight of one is often enough to prevent a burglar from targeting your home, and if they go through with it anyway, you have footage to show to law enforcement.
• Even if you’re asleep, keep the lights on in various rooms in your house. Some smart lights can be programmed to periodically turn on, stay on for some time, and then turn off to save power. If a potential thief thinks people are still awake and active around the house, they’re much less likely to try breaking in. Watch your electricity bill, though.
• Make sure the inside of your home is not too visible to outsiders. If they can’t spot worthwhile valuables to steal, they may not even attempt to break in. The same applies if you have a garage or shed used for storage.
• Getting a dog is a very effective method of detecting or deterring intruders. If your dog is big enough to pose a threat to a burglar, they can single-handedly stop any crime from taking place. Make it super-obvious that you have a dog, too – put a couple of dog toys in your front yard if you have one, and put a sign somewhere saying “Beware of Dog” – these last two methods can work even if you don’t have a dog!

Sleepwalking and Hazards In Your Home

If you’ve been reading articles on this website in the past, you probably already know how troublesome certain sleep disorders can be. Whether it’s sleep apnea, bruxism or restless legs syndrome, there are a plethora of problems you could be facing while trying to get quality rest. For the purposes of home safety, however, we will look over a specific category of disorders – parasomnias. This group of disorders is characterized by abnormal behavior and movement during sleep. This behavior can range from teeth grinding (otherwise known as bruxism) all the way to sleepwalking, where the person moves around their home in a hybrid state of wakefulness and sleep.

Sleepwalking is what we’re going to focus on here, but remember that certain other disorders (parasomnias or sleep-related movement disorders) can be relevant as well. While sleepwalking itself isn’t harmful to the person in question, they put themselves at huge risk of injury by roaming “blindly” around their living space. If they encounter a set of stairs (especially ones leading down), sharp corners or slippery floors, they can easily fall and suffer serious harm (or worse). To prevent this type of accident, or at least minimize the impact of a potential fall, you should examine your house carefully:

• Try to keep a soft carpet in as many places as possible, especially rooms where you know the sleepwalker tends to roam. It can soften the blow of falling over and prevent serious injuries or bruises.
• If at all possible, turn as many sharp furniture corners towards the wall in a way that makes them untouchable for the sleepwalker. If it’s not feasible in certain locations, put something less dangerous in the way (such as a chair with smooth edges and round corners).
• If the person regularly jerks their legs or tosses around in their room, move furniture away from the bed and install sturdy (but smooth) bed railing. These methods reduce the risk of injury near the bed.
• Keep a light on in the bathroom (or in all of them if you have more than one). Sleepwalkers are often drawn to light sources and tend to relieve themselves during their “journey.” Make sure the bathroom light is on, so they go to the correct place.

Preparing For Emergencies

Depending on where you live, different kinds of emergencies and disasters will be more common. However, floods and fires can happen just about anywhere, so there is no excuse for not being prepared to quickly evacuate and stay safe. If your area is susceptible to a natural disaster, it can be hard to feel completely safe in your own home. There are a handful of measures you can take to prepare yourself for the worst.

First of all, be informed about potential emergencies. There are apps for Android and iOS that are specifically designed to alert you of incoming disasters, and it never hurts to tune into the news once per day. You can also contact the Red Cross in your local area to find out exactly what kind of disaster you can expect to see at some point in the future. The more you know, the smarter your decisions can be.

Additionally, prepare an emergency kit. Not only is a set of first aid supplies useful to have in general, but you also want to store canned food and similar resources for when trouble happens. For every person in the family, pack around 1 gallon of water, and store as much long-lasting food as you can comfortably afford. Prepare sets of spare keys and maps of your town so you can navigate in the dark or during floods. A multi-purpose tool like a swiss army knife also helps, as it can get you out of trouble in a pinch, and help open food cans and sort out other small issues.

A commonly overlooked part of an emergency kit is a set of documents belonging to each family member. From ID cards to medical histories to anything else you can think of, it is incredibly smart to have emergency information available at a moment’s notice. This information helps medical staff, law enforcement, emergency relief volunteers and similar groups help you in a way that is most suitable, especially when it comes to medication allergies.

Be aware of every escape route you have available at home. Whether you’re being threatened by a fire, flood or earthquake, it is crucial to know how you can safely and quickly exit your home to avoid accidents and injuries. Plan out routes for each room in your home, so that no matter where a person is, they know how to take care of themselves in case of emergencies.

Quick tip: If you’re worried about fires, make sure all your interior doors are closed. If you do this, fires spread slower, giving you more time to plan your escape and retrieve important items, as well as protect family members.

Moving to a New Town

If you have the time, money and opportunity (usually in regards to work), you may want to consider moving to one of the safest cities in the US. Avoiding natural disasters and seeking low crime rates is a smart approach to ensuring a high level of home security, even if indirectly. If you’re trying to avoid crime, you typically want to look away from large cities like Chicago or Las Vegas and towards smaller places like Thousand Oaks. Safe cities also tend to come with other benefits, such as well-funded schools, good job opportunities and well-maintained parks – however, be ready to suffer living expense increases, like the rent, and purchase prices for apartments and houses here can be a bit steep.

Adolescence is a peculiar phase in everyone’s journey, where most of us are in a rush to move past it and enter adulthood. This period brings about numerous transformations in youngsters, such as hormonal surges, escalated responsibilities, changes in social connections, and an increase in personal independence. Teenagers attain more autonomy by choosing afterschool activities, learning to drive, and getting part-time jobs to learn about managing finances. Furthermore, they enhance their ability to think critically and deal with the pressures from their peers, marking this period as essential for a young person’s development.

Sleeping well is essential for adolescents, as they are still growing and developing, and they should preferably get 9 hours each night. Unfortunately, with a lot of responsibilities and different activities, teens often choose to sacrifice sleep to get everything else done. Missing necessary rest on a daily basis leads to sleep deprivation that is just terrible for their health. It results in a weakened immune system, impaired memory, decreased learning ability and attention which ultimately leads to worse academic performance, harder time controlling emotions, and increased risk of mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression. To make things even worse, these mental disorders also have an additional impact on sleep, which leads to even shorter rest time per night. Because of all of this, adolescents need to pay special attention to their sleep habits, and researchers think that the best way to do this is to shift school starts a little later in the morning.

Sleep Deprivation and Adolescence

As much as 60% of teens report feeling fatigued during the day, and 15% have even fallen asleep during school. A growing body of evidence tells us that the reason for that is the early morning start, which is something we can change. Academic researchers agree that moving the school start to 8.30 am or later can bring many benefits. Unfortunately, 83% of middle and 93% of high schools start before 8.30 am.

Because of work, school, extracurricular activities, and other responsibilities, 90% of teenagers don’t get the recommended 9 hours of sleep — no wonder why they feel so exhausted. They also further compromise their rest by using electronics late at night. Screens emit blue light that suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that is essential for sleep, and basically tells our brain that it’s time to be active. Because of that, it is harder to fall asleep, and there is a higher risk of sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation is no joke, as it affects many aspects of our lives, including our cognitive performance. When we lack sleep, our ability to concentrate is impaired, it is harder to obtain and retain new information, and our problem-solving skills are way worse. All of these are much needed for excellent academic performance.

Our emotional well-being is affected by lack of sleep as well. Sleep deprived people are more likely to act irrational, make poor judgments, and have a harder time regulating their mood and temper. Mix that in with a combination of hormones going wild in teenagers, and the effects only get worse. It may cause them to have a hard time coping with the stresses of everyday life and school, and they might turn to alcohol, drugs, and nicotine abuse. Poor decision making can also make them think that it’s okay to drive when they are under the influence of alcohol, or when they are feeling too tired. Car accidents are the number one death cause among teenagers.

Beside affecting us mentally and emotionally, sleep deprivation also has physical consequences. When we don’t get enough sleep, our body’s production of ghrelin and leptin, two hormones responsible for our appetite, is affected. That makes us crave more sugary and fatty foods, and that brings us one step closer to weight gain and obesity. Chronic lack of sleep also increases our chances of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, even certain types of cancer.

Why Don’t They Go to Bed Earlier?

A logical step if you are constantly sleep deprived is to go to bed earlier. Unfortunately, it is not that easy. Teenagers need 9 hours of sleep, compared to 7 to 9 that is recommended for adults. Also, right around the adolescence, there is a natural shift in a body’s circadian rhythms. The production of melatonin starts later in the night compared to childhood, and it also stops later in the morning. Because of that, teenagers tend to go to sleep later and to sleep longer in the morning. This shift is also observed in other animal species during adolescence, so it is entirely normal behavior. Unfortunately, early school start makes them miss the needed sleep, and they just can’t go to bed earlier.

School dictates everything. Teens need to find time to squeeze in other extracurricular activities, jobs, socializing with friends, family obligations, hobbies, and other basic needs like eating and bathing. They also need to contribute to the household by doing chores, and even though they spend a big part of the day at school, they still have homework and extra assignments to do back at home. This brings a lot of stress, and they often willingly choose to compromise their sleep, so that they can have time for all these activities.

To complicate things even more, most teens are not aware of good sleep hygiene, and they often take part in behaviors that are damaging their sleep. The basics of sleeping well are:

• Stick to a regular schedule by going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
• Get the right amount of sleep, which is 7 to 9 for adults, 9 for teenagers, and even more for children. Toddlers sleep for 16 hours a day.
• Create a relaxing bedtime routine that helps you unwind before bedtime.
• Sleep in a cool, quiet, dark bedroom, free of any distractions.
• Do not use electronics at least 30 minutes before bed.
• Avoid drinking caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and eating large meals before bed.

If you have ever come in contact with a teenager, you know that these are the directions they simply don’t follow. They stay up late playing games, watching videos on Youtube, and texting with their friends. Prolonged exposure to bright screens trick their brains into thinking that it is daytime, so it makes it harder to fall asleep when they decide to lay down. They also drink a lot of energy drinks to keep up with responsibilities. Energy drinks and sodas are full of caffeine, and they are proven to disrupt sleep, especially if taken too close to bedtime.

Benefits of Later School Start Times

Current research shows that it can be very beneficial to move the school start time to 8.30 am or later. Generally, students spend that extra time sleeping, and it is significant for their well-being. Some of the benefits are:

• Longer sleep duration
• Increased daytime alertness
• Fewer chances of falling asleep in the class
• Better attendance due to fewer sick days and fatigue
• Decreased risk of depression and anxiety
• Fewer car accidents due to drowsy driving
• Better academic performance (better scores on tests including GPA and college admission test scores)
• Faster reaction times
• Fewer disciplinary actions
• Better relationship with family and friends
• Mood improvement

Unfortunately, even with all of these proven benefits, parents don’t seem to understand the needs of their children. Only around 50% of parents are in favor of moving school start times.

Scientific Research Supporting Later School Starts

One study from 2018 looked at 375 students in Singapore, and how delayed sleep start affected them. Academic success is extremely important in Eastern Asian countries, so researchers were interested in how socially acceptable this delay would be, and how the students would behave. The school agreed to move the start 45 minutes later to determine short and long-term impact on students.

The findings showed that after one month, even though students went to sleep a little later, on average they spent 23.2 minutes more asleep. Nine months later, the effects were a bit smaller, but there was still a 10 minutes increase in sleeping time. Students also reported lower levels of daytime sleepiness and higher levels of emotional well-being at both instances.

The majority of students (89.1%), parents (75.6%), and teachers (67.6%) agreed that the later start times were better for students. It means that it is feasible to delay the school start, even in the culture that often chooses to sacrifice sleep to study more and get better academic performance.

A 2017 study was conducted to see how the delayed start times later than 8.30 am would affect student attendance and graduation rates. They monitored over 30,000 students from 29 different high schools located across seven different states. Interestingly, both the attendance and graduation rates significantly improved, giving the more reason for delaying school starts.

A comprehensive assessment of school starting times in Canada was done in 2016. Researchers wanted to see how this parameter correlated with the quantity of sleep the students were getting. They collected data from 362 schools in Canada, and they surveyed nearly 30,000 students aged 10 to 18. They found out that the average starting time was 8.43 am. And even though students slept for over 8 and a half hours on average on a school night, 60% still felt fatigued in the morning. For every 10 minute delay in starting time, students got 3.2 more minutes of sleep; they were 1.6% more likely to get sufficient sleep, and also 2.1% less likely to feel tired in the morning. As the students who were attending school later reported to get more sleep and feel well-rested in the morning, it just builds a larger case to why we should just quit torturing our kids with early morning wake-ups.

A study done in 2014 by the University of Minnesota, followed over 9,000 students from 8 different public schools. Their goal was to see how the later start time correlated academic performance, overall health, and well-being of students.

The results were not surprising, as the later start times enabled 60% of students to get at least 8 hours of sleep, which is a bare minimum for teenagers. Start of 8.35 am or later meant significantly improved academic performance. Students had higher grades in core subjects such as maths, science, English and social studies. They also performed better on state and national tests. Students’ attendance improved, as there are less sick days because of the better sleep quality, while their daytime fatigue decreased. Students who slept less than 8 hours per night, reported significantly higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, caffeine and substance use. Their grades and overall performance was also much lower. Another key finding is that when a school changed starting time from 7.35 to 8.55 am; there was a massive 70% decrease in teenage car crashes. Sleep-deprived kids were also observed to be more sedentary and prone to junk food, as exercise, eating healthy and sleeping well are all tied together.

A study of nearly 10,000 students from 2008 showed consistent results. Researchers analyzed the effects of one-hour delay on students and car crash accidents. They found out that the total sleep time of students increased by 12 to 36 minutes depending on the grade. The percentage of students getting 8 or more hours of rest risen from 37.5% to 50%, as did the number of kids having at least 9 hours (6.3% to 10.8%). Car crash rates were lower by 16.5%.

Is Changing School Start Times Too Complicated?

Getting sufficient sleep, better academic performance, being well-rested during the day, mood improvement, fewer signs of mental health disorders, lower car crash rates, there are just too many benefits to moving delaying school starts. But why aren’t we doing it?

The main concern that the officials have for this is the cost. They said it would just take too much money, with the most significant chunk going to the adaptation of bus schedules. Current schedules are fitted to high and elementary school needs, so changing this would probably mean that there would need to employ more drivers and rent more buses, which cost a lot. However, if it benefits our children so much, is it really important?

Few researchers have gone as far as predicting that we would economically have a lot of benefits from school delay. There would be far fewer car crashes, and the improved academic performance and better education would mean more economic gain. Not to mention that obesity, suicide, mental disorders, and other health issue rates would drop, which is all beneficial to the economy as well. Let’s cut out all the excuses and do what’s right for our children according to scientific research, and that is delaying school start to 8.30 am or later.

Our internal biological clock, or circadian rhythm, coordinates the schedule of various bodily functions over a 24-hour cycle, drawing influence from light (alongside other external signals) and significantly contributes to synchronizing our sleeping habits with the natural alternation of light and dark. At its core, a properly adjusted circadian rhythm prompts us to rise in the morning and facilitates the onset of sleep in the evening, thereby efficiently regulating the so-called “sleep-wake” cycle.

A circadian rhythm that doesn’t function properly can mess up your sleep timing in a few different ways, all of them classified as the circadian rhythm disorders. For example, the delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (DSPD) causes a person to naturally wake up and go to sleep at a time that is 2 or more hours later than average. Although not responsible for any further harm, this disorder causes quite an inconvenience for individuals who can either decide to schedule their life to accommodate it or ignore it to their best ability, attempting to wake up earlier than their own “normal” would be, in order to make it to school or work. This routine lasting over the course of two months results in sleep deprivation, excessive daytime sleepiness, etc.

The same kind of disorder in a mirror effect is the advanced sleep-wake phase disorder. Keep reading; we are about to go over its characteristics, etymology, diagnosis methods, treatments, and tips for navigating sleep with this disorder.

The Early Bird Disorder

The advanced sleep-wake phase disorder (ASWPD) is another circadian rhythm disorder. People who live with it report feeling excessively sleepy in the evening before the normally considered bedtime, often not being able to resist falling asleep, and waking up way too early. We are talking as early as a 6 P.M.-2 A.M. sleep-wake time. While this disorder might sound better regarding work, school and other daily appointments than its “night owl” counterpart, people with ASWPD often miss out on many social events that happen in the evening, like birthday celebrations, parties or just the opportunity to relax with family at home when everybody is done with their responsibilities. They often wake up before dawn, spending the first few hours tossing and turning in bed and feeling completely isolated, until the morning light comes and other people slowly start waking up.

Causes and epidemiology

Many people occasionally fall asleep early due to exhaustion, daily stress, etc. or wake up early after traveling, but in order to be diagnosed with this disorder, the early sleep pattern has to continue for at least three months. A chronic condition of that type is very rare – under 1% of the population is estimated to have the ASWPD. This disorder is equally prevalent in women and men, but more prevalent among the elderly – that is believed to be due to the loss of some sleep regulating hormones as people get older.

Research has recently determined that there is a strong genetic factor related to the ASWPD, with up to 50% of the people affected having closer or further relatives suffering from the same disorder. A group of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, lead by Louis Ptáček and Ying-Hui Fu in 1999, discovered evidence of the familial tendency to develop this disorder and linking several genes to it. However, it isn’t clear how much of the familial tendency has to do with the existence of these genes, and how much with the habitual lifestyle that children often inherit from their parents; it has been established that strong external factors can be of great influence, turning certain genes off or on.

For example, let’s say that the individuals of a family all have the gene predisposing them to be obese. Another thing they have in common is that their family as a whole indulges in the same unhealthy diet and lives a very sedentary life. As a result of both the genetic predisposition and their lifestyle, they are all obese, and when they think about it individually, they conclude it simply “runs in the family.” Although it’s not wrong that the gene runs in the family if any one of these individuals had stepped out of the family’s lifestyle, perhaps became very active or ate a healthier diet, the gene could have potentially been neutralized, and the person would not be obese anymore.

Symptoms and diagnosis

The symptoms of the advanced sleep-wake phase disorder include:

•         Excessive sleepiness in the evening, between 5 P.M.-9 P.M.
•         Falling asleep accidentally, while indulging in passive activities like eating or reading
•         Waking up fully rested very early, often at nighttime
•         Waking up very early despite staying up late the night before
•         Difficulties falling back asleep in the morning
•         Melatonin levels and core body temperature cycling earlier than average
•         The sleep cycle isn’t better explained by another condition

At the doctor’s appointment, you will be asked about your medical history, state of health and your subjective overview of the symptoms. Polysomnography might be needed to rule out narcolepsy and sleep apnea because symptoms might be similar – spontaneously falling asleep can also be a sign for narcolepsy. Polysomnography is a test performed in the laboratory, preferably at the patient’s standard bedtime, recording their sleep the entire night and monitoring their brain wave activity, heart rhythm, skeletal muscle activation, eye movements, respiratory airflow, etc. A licensed specialist is required to be present the entire time of the test.

If you aren’t sure about reaching out to a doctor just yet or aren’t convinced you have this disorder, a smart thing to do would be to keep a sleep log. Record everything: when you fall asleep, how long it takes you, whether you wake up during the night, if yes, what wakes you up, when you wake up in the morning, how you feel, are you sleepy during the day, etc. This journal should be kept at least two or three weeks and would be very useful for your doctor to study. Using this and other diagnostic methods mentioned above, he or she could then determine whether and what type of sleep disorder you have and then move on to cover appropriate treatment options.

Treatment

A possible treatment to help postpone the characteristically early ASWPD bedtime is light therapy. Our circadian rhythm responds to light and alerts the body to wake up or stay awake until nightfall. A bright light is used with this in mind to help boost the alertness levels in the body and delay the production of melatonin, thus helping the body maintain its wakefulness a bit longer.

Besides this, in exceptional cases, a small dosage of a melatonin supplement in the early morning might be prescribed to help induce sleep, depending on the patient’s desires and how early they wake up.

Treating ASWPD is not necessary healthwise; it is only because of the social inconvenience that some people might want to “cure” it. If you have the ASWPD but can afford to set up such a schedule that would accommodate the early sleep pattern, there would be no reason for any sort of therapy.

Other conditions the ASWPD commonly gets mistaken for

Due to the fact that this disorder doesn’t affect many people, it is widely unknown and easily mistaken for something else. Some common such misconceptions include the following conditions:

•        Narcolepsy. This neurological sleep disorder causes people who have it to spontaneously fall asleep while participating in a passive activity, like reading or sleeping. A similar thing can happen when you have the ASWPD – falling asleep in the afternoon in a much similar manner wouldn’t be out of order with this disorder, potentially making it difficult to differentiate between them. However, unlike narcolepsy, the ASWPD doesn’t cause excessive daytime sleepiness, so a thorough questionnaire or sleep log might clear this dilemma.
•         Depression. A person who feels exhausted at 6 P.M. might blame it on depression – although not a sleep disorder, this condition is known to cause excessive sleepiness. However, as with narcolepsy, people who have the ASWPD aren’t excessively sleepy during the entire day, only at their early bedtime.
•         Insomnia. An individual with ASWPD might mistakenly assume that they have insomnia, making them wake up in the middle of the night when everybody else still sleeps, and unable to go back to sleep. But in reality, this disorder only affects the timing of sleep, not its quality. All sleep-related processes start early in an individual with ASWPD: melatonin and other sleep hormone secretion, body core temperature change, etc.

Tips for living with the advanced sleep-wake phase disorder

• It’s ok to miss your bedtime occasionally, but for celebrations and parties, you can also try hosting BBQs, workshops or doing group activities like hikes, sports or museum tours. You can also hit the cinema – earlier afternoon tickets are often cheaper plus it won’t be nearly crowded as in the evening.
• If you can’t make it to somebody’s birthday, ask them to meet you for cake or coffee earlier, or the following day. Let family and friends know about your early bedtime so they can keep that in mind for future event plans.
• Maybe you wish to have more time with your children, but the schedules just don’t match. Well, even if you work at a 9-5 job (which is least recommended for people with ASWPD), you will still have plenty of time before work to do chores, make breakfast and lunch, or whatever else needs to be done during the day – you may even sneak in some time with the kids before they leave for school. That way, when you get back from work, you can focus only on family time and not worry about making it before your bedtime.
• That said, consider switching to an early morning/late night shift, depending on your bedtime, and avoid working in the afternoon. Any activity that requires your full attention, like driving, at that time will be compromised, putting you and others at risk. Another thing to consider is working remotely; you can utilize the morning time no matter how early, and then stop by the office only when necessary, leaving you the rest of the day to organize as you please.
• If necessary, you can take occasional naps, but don’t make it over 90 minutes at a time – naps can refresh you when they last shorter, or mess with your sleep later if you overdo it. If you feel excessively sleepy during the day and need to take naps often, report this to your doctor as excessive daytime sleepiness isn’t a symptom of the ASWPD and could point to some other issue.
• Avoid forcefully changing your bedtime more often than a few times a week. Not wanting to miss a special event is fine, but staying up weeks on end can lead to major sleep issues and potentially develop into new disorders. Many sleep disorders can be persistent and difficult to treat even alone; developing them while already having the ASWPD could majorly complicate your life.
• Don’t self-medicate or go overboard with stimulants like caffeine. If you are adamant about treating your ASWPD, this isn’t a way to do it. Stick to light therapy and discuss any other potential options with your doctor.

Do you ever feel like a zombie during the day, even if you got a decent night’s sleep? You’re not alone. Loads of people head to sleep clinics with the same issue, known as **Severe Daytime Sleepiness** or EDS. It’s easy to confuse it with just being plain tired, where you’re low on energy but not exactly fighting to keep your eyes open. Feeling sleepy now and then is one thing, but if it’s all the time, it’s probably a sign that something’s up. It could mean you’re dealing with sleep problems or other health issues that need attention.
When EDS grabs hold of you, it’s more than an annoyance. It can put the brakes on your brainpower, like memory and focus, making even simple stuff feel like a mountain to climb. Get this, in mild cases, it could just make your day drag on, messing with your mojo. But, hit the extreme end, and daily tasks turn into real struggles, putting a dent in your safety and the safety of those around you. Imagine needing to be on your A-game but feeling like you’re about to crash – it’s risky business.
So, who needs to tune into this chat? Anyone who’s tired of feeling tired during the day. Keep reading, and you’ll snag some cool tips and surprising facts that not everyone knows about fighting off that daytime doze. Stick with us, and discover why waving goodbye to **Severe Daytime Sleepiness** could be the game-changer you’ve been searching for.

With this in mind, doctors at sleep clinics have standardized a few different procedures to measure the patients’ sleepiness levels as accurately as possible – and this is no simple task. Sleepiness is a subjective feeling, and it’s hard to assess precisely. How sleepy is too sleepy? Even so, subjective tests still find their purpose in many sleep clinics and even on the internet, because of their time-efficiency and ease of access. These tests are meant to be only the first step in a diagnostic procedure, and they serve as a general overview of the patient’s situation and a good introduction into other potential examination steps. Other than that, the patients can use the test to get some hang of the subject as they face sleep issues for the first time; knowing what they can expect at the first doctor’s appointment helps some people take the step of scheduling one.

One such a subjective test that we will focus on in this article is called the Stanford sleepiness scale.

What is the Stanford Sleepiness Scale?

The Stanford sleepiness scale, or SSS for short, is one of the few (and the oldest) self-report methods for assessing one’s sleepiness levels throughout the day. Now widely available online and simple enough for anyone to comprehend, SSS is designed to measure sleepiness in a range from 1-7, 1 representing complete alertness and 7 standing for excessive sleepiness or being barely awake. This test takes mere minutes to complete and is used to determine one’s alertness level at any hour of the day, taking into consideration that during this timeframe, there are normally some oscillations; usually, approximately 9 A.M. and 9 P.M. mark the peak of one’s alertness, with some sleepier times in between.

The slight dip in our energy in the afternoon, just after we’ve had lunch is nothing to get alarmed about but exhaustion at the point of the day when one’s supposed to be most alert signals a problem that needs to get addressed with professional help. SSS can be handy even for people whose sleepiness level doesn’t reach the “excessive” score. With this information in mind, a person can know when to expect to be more drowsy and avoid doing important tasks that require focus at those times, and leave them for a more “sober” point of the day, thus taking full advantage of their natural alertness cycle.

How the SSS Rates Sleepiness?

The degrees of sleepiness you can score on this test are:

1.    Feeling alert, wide awake, or active
2.    Functioning at high (but not peak) levels; able to concentrate
3.    Relaxed and awake; responsive without being fully alert
4.    A bit foggy and let down
5.    Foggy; slowed down; not interested in staying awake
6.    Woozy, sleepy, fighting sleep
7.    Not fighting sleep; dream-like thoughts

The first three answers indicate that you are (relatively) alert; anything below, and you are unfocused at best, exhausted at worst. Depending on what time of day you did the test and how high you rated your sleepiness level, results can mean different things. For example, if you took the test around 3 P.M. and felt somewhat foggy (4), this doesn’t indicate something is wrong just yet. Being less alert at that time of day is normal, especially if you have been working hard for hours, or had a big meal. However, if it’s been only a couple of hours since you woke up, the time when you are supposed to be most alert, and you assess your sleepiness with a 4, this is definitely something to worry about; the bigger the number you pick, the bigger the sleep debt you have to make up for.

You might very well be aware of the cause of your sleep deprivation – maybe you stayed up late but had to get up early regardless. One day of being sleepy, especially in a situation like that, still doesn’t signify anything out of the ordinary. Even if it repeated through the entire week or two, it doesn’t mean a disorder has developed. But if you purposely went online to look for a sleepiness test, or went to a sleep clinic, chances are you are worried that something might be wrong. Feeling foggy and slow most of the time indicates the possibility of a sleep disorder or some other medical condition. In that case, further examination is required: your doctor might give you another, more detailed questionnaire to fill out, introduce you to writing a sleep journal, order polysomnography, and so forth (we will cover some of these in more detail later). Only after a few of these tests have been performed will your doctor be able to rule out enough disorders to eventually diagnose you. A single test, especially a vague, subjective one like SSS, is never going to present the entire picture. Which brings us to…

Criticism of the SSS

You saw it coming. This testing method has a few faults. To start with, it is subjective. This fact doesn’t automatically discredit SSS and similar tests; as mentioned above, there is a certain value in this method, at least enough for it to still be used. However, doctors need to have more backed information to work with than a patient claiming to feel sleepy. This is never guaranteed with a one-question method like the SSS because it also requires the patient to have some degree of awareness of the subject, and of their own state, which isn’t always the case.

Further, the SSS has been criticized for being unidimensional; that is, it doesn’t differentiate between a person with a sleep disorder and a person who just happens to be sleepy at the time of the test. It requires a special context to give satisfying results, but even as such is useful for repeated check-ups on the patient during treatment, or after.

Because of these points, SSS has been validated for use only in population over the age of 18, and overall remains useful as a way to open up the conversation about sleep with a patient and keep track of their progress, more than as a primary diagnostic tool. Excessive sleepiness is just one symptom to look for when identifying potential sleep disorder. There are far more reliable and wider-range diagnostic methods to choose from when it comes to sleepiness and sleep-related disorders.

Some common methods for diagnosing sleep disorders

•         Physical examination. After taking a medical history, a brief physical examination often follows. It might include blood and urine tests if a doctor deems it necessary, usually to check for a suspected issue with the thyroid function, potential iron deficiency or diabetes, as well as to rule out some other medical and psychiatric conditions discoverable by these lab tests.
•         Multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) is a widely used test that measures how fast a person falls asleep when given the opportunity for a short nap after a good night’s sleep, along with whether they reach the REM stage during this time or not. If they fall asleep faster than the average or manage to enter the REM stage, it is a good indication of excessive daytime sleepiness and a potential sleep disorder, like narcolepsy. Some other tests worth mentioning include the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Fatigue Severity Scale.
•        Actigraphy is a method for measuring movement during the patient’s sleep. It works by setting up a small device for the patient to wear around the wrist or ankle for at least a week. It is usually ordered if polysomnography isn’t available, as a smaller-scale sleep study, and finds particular use in diagnosing delayed sleep-wake phase disorder.
•         Polysomnography. This sleep study is done in a laboratory usually at night and with the supervision of a specialist. It measures the patient’s brain wave activity, eye movements, heart rhythm, breathing functions and more during sleep. It is the only definitive method for diagnosing some disorders like sleep apnea. However, tests like this one take time and aren’t cost-efficient for patients whose disorders aren’t severe, or for patients whose main issue is insomnia, so doctors often try out other options first.

You’ve tried everything in the book, including sipping on tart cherry juice to combat sleeplessness, a variety of teas, and different essential oils. Despite these attempts, your doctor advises that a change in lifestyle might be necessary, but you find it incredibly challenging to maintain a regular sleep schedule. It might be time to think about seeking help from a sleep clinic. Managing sleep disorders can be complex, particularly when they begin to interfere with your daily activities.

If you are having troubles with excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, falling and staying asleep, and none of the behavioral changes that you made did not provide any results, consult your doctor to refer you to a sleep clinic. However, it is essential to keep in mind that sleep clinics only set diagnose, identify the sleep disorder and recommend proper treatment, they do not cure the problem. Sleep clinics are probably the best way to learn everything in-depth about your sleep and get an official diagnosis of a specific sleep disorder such as insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, etc. Since Americans are having a lot of sleep-related issues, there are hundreds of these clinics in the US at the moment, and their number keeps growing.

Sleep clinics are basically medical labs and diagnostic centers in which patients can spend a night if it is necessary, so they are adjusted for the accommodation and comfort of the patients. Each room is equipped with medical monitoring devices, and the patient can be monitored during the day or at night so that the medical staff can gather enough information about their sleep. The data collected from the sleep study will be used for setting a diagnose and determine whether or not someone has a sleep disorder.

Some sleep clinics are attached to hospitals and function as a part of them, but the majority of them are standalone. Each clinic has to have a supervising physician, but usually, technicians are doing all the work, they are taking tests and monitoring patients, while the doctor analyses the final results and sets a diagnose.

If you are planning to visit a sleep clinic, keep reading to find some useful information and tips that will help you prepare for your sleep study.

How to Prepare for a Sleep Study?

Once you make an appointment, the clinic will probably send you some information and tips to help you prepare yourself better for your sleep study. During the few days before your sleep test, you should not do anything special, but on the day of your sleep study, there are some things that you should not do. Avoid alcohol and caffeine intake, do not take any nap during that day because that way you will fall asleep faster at the clinic, remove nail polish from your index fingers and wash your hair since it will be easier for electrodes to get attached to your scalp if there are no oils or gels. You should eat before going to the clinic and pack everything you need for a one night stay, toiletries, clothes, a book, or medications if you are taking them but you must inform technicians about your therapy. Even though you did not take a nap, it might be hard at first to relax and fall asleep, and that is normal since we are not in sleeping in our bedroom and we are nervous about the test and its outcome.

Many sleep studies need to be taken overnight, and they demand at least 7 hours of sleep testing in a clinic room. Sleep clinics will schedule your arrival during the evening hours so that in the early morning hours patients are free to go and continue with their daily chores, some clinics even have shower rooms. Technicians will welcome the patient and do all the necessary paperwork, then set all the equipment and start monitoring while the patient is sleeping. Sometimes they will leave the patient to wake up naturally, but they can also wake you up at the preselected time.

Do not expect to get your results and diagnose right after; the technicians will forward your results to a doctor, who then analyzes them and goes through your medical history. Within 7 to 10 days from your visit to a sleep clinic, your results will be ready, and the doctor will tell you what the treatment options are and is it really a sleep disorder and which one.

How Does Sleep Study Procedure Look Like?

Once you enter the clinic and fill out all papers, technicians will measure your blood pressure and start applying monitors that will measure the activity in your body while you are sleeping. Wires with small electrodes will be attached to your scalp to measure your brain activity, and from this, technicians will know whether you are sleeping and in which stage of sleep you are. More wire electrodes will be attached to your face, near the eyes and chin to follow the activity of muscles. Electrodes around eyes also provide information about sleep stages, while the ones on the chin can indicate some disorders like nocturnal teeth grinding.

Two elastic belts, one around the chest and the other one around the stomach will measure breathing effort. A monitor will be attached to your nail polish-free index finger to follow the level of oxygen during the study. A nasal cannula and heat monitor will measure all breathing activities, while a small microphone will be placed near the throat to capture snoring. There will also be wire electrodes on each leg to monitor body and muscle movements and two or three EKG monitors to follow and show heart rhythm and rate. All wires are long enough so that they do not hinder your normal movements during sleep.

Once you are all hooked up, the RSPGT machine in the other room will start to follow and collect all the data. If there is a need for communication between the patient and technicians in a different room, it can easily be achieved via intercom which is usually used at the beginning to test the equipment. As if not sleeping in your room is not enough, you know that you are monitored and attached to various devices, and it may seem that it will be impossible to relax and fall asleep. However, a sleep study rarely fails or gets rescheduled because the patient was unable to fall asleep.

Types of Sleep Studies

Sleep clinics today offer various sleep studies, and we are going to briefly represent you a few of the most commonly used ones.

• Polysomnogram (PSG) is the most often performed overnight sleep study which monitors brain activity, blood pressure, oxygen levels, heart rate, eye and body movements. This test is used for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea, sleep disorders caused by excessive daytime sleepiness, movement disorders or seizure disorders that are sleep related.
• MSLT or Multiple Sleep Latency Test is a daytime sleep study which measures how sleepy you get. It is usually performed after PSG, and it records if you fell asleep during the test, and which stages of sleep you reached. Patients have to try and take a 20-minute nap, five times with two-hour breaks in between each nap. Technicians will monitor eye movements and brain activity to measure the level of sleepiness and how quickly can a patient reach the REM stage. MSLT is used as a test for narcolepsy or to check if the treatment for sleep apnea is working properly.
• Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) is another daytime sleep study, often performed right after PSG, and it measures our ability to stay awake or if our sleepiness can be a potential safety concern. MWT is also great for checking if the sleep apnea treatment is helping, but it is also useful for people who are working in transportation, for example, truck drivers because their employers sometimes require them to deliver MWT results.
• Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Titration study is an overnight study which manages breathing disorders that are sleep related, some of them are obstructive and central sleep apnea, and hypoventilation. This study monitors the patient’s breathing while adjusting the CPAP pressure in order to determine the amount of air pressure which is necessary to prevent the restriction of upper airway which causes breathing pauses during sleep. Patients need to carry a nasal mask connected to a tube on a pressure device, it starts with low-pressure levels, and then it gradually rises.
• Split Night Study is used for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea, and it actually combines two different studies in one night, saving the patient’s precious time. During the first part, patients will undergo a PSG, and then after a CPAP titration.

Tips for Choosing the Best Sleep Clinic

Since they are quite popular at the moment, sleep clinics can be found on almost every corner, so how to pick the one that you will trust? Here are some things on which you have to pay attention.

• Medical certification – you need to be sure that the doctors and technicians who will be examining you have a proper medical certificate for what they are doing. The doctor that will set a diagnose needs to be a board-certified in sleep medicine because only that can guarantee you that this doctor attended two-year training for specializing in sleep medicine. Technicians or sleep technologists need to have one of these certifications: CPSGT, RST, RPSGT or SDS. A patient who is diagnosed with sleep apnea will encounter a sleep respiratory therapist who will train them on how to use the CPAP machine. This person needs to have SDS certificate and CRT or RRT. You can check the certifications on the webpage of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
• Price and insurance coverage – sleep studies are not cheap, their price goes from 1000$ and higher, but if your doctor refers you to a sleep clinic, many insurance companies will cover the cost of it, just do the research. High prices of medical studies and treatments are the main reason why many people are not treating their sleep disorders correctly. If you are trying to undergo a study to diagnose sleep apnea, some insurance companies will require you to take a home sleep study first. Compared to sleep studies those home sleep tests are somewhat affordable with a price around 200$, and they are designed to diagnose how severe obstructive sleep apnea is. But anyway, you should think about sleep tests and studies as an investment in your self-care, since our sleep quality impacts more than our dark undereye circles, it can jeopardize our health and all other aspects of our life.
• Additional accreditation – most sleep clinics are accredited through the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and if a clinic wants to have this recognition, it has to meet certain standards, including a doctor with proper qualifications, educated and certified technicians who all must meet requirements of continued education.
• Reviews – as we tend to google everything, google your nearest sleep clinic and seek for genuine experiences of former patients who have similar symptoms or sleep disorders.
• Location – in big cities there are many sleep clinics, so check on the map which one is on your way when you are going back home from work, or when you are driving kids to kindergarten. Make a short stop to visit some clinics and see how it looks and feels in reality, away from smiley and polished pictures on their webpages. They will also probably provide you with all the information and brochures about their clinic and sleep studies they perform. This way you can compare two or more clinics and choose the one that is the best for you.

Is the darkness and size of the circles under our eyes not enough to show how sleep-deprived we are? Or is the twitching of our eyelids not glaringly obvious? How can we measure sleepiness or a deficiency of sleep when these are not physical measurements but rather indicators of personal experiences and conditions? Consider two people who both get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep; one might feel the urge to go to bed earlier than the other.

Since scientists started paying so much attention to sleep, more and more sleep mysteries began showing up and finding a way to measure what seems unmeasurable appears to be one of them. In today’s post, we are going to see what is considered for these two conditions and in which ways are researchers trying to find out how to measure sleepiness and sleep deficiency.

Sleep Deficiency

Sleep deficiency is considered to be the same as sleep deprivation, which is not a mistake, but sleep deficiency is a somewhat broader term which covers consequences of the lack of sleep (sleep deprivation), poor sleep quality caused by some sleep disorder or sleep-wake phase disorders.

Since it is widely known that people in the US are not getting enough sleep, sleep deficiency has become a common health problem for people of all ages and gender. It has been estimated that around 7% to 19% of people are not getting enough sleep time each day, 40% of adults have fallen asleep during the day without intention at least once in a month. And, another worrying fact is that 50 to 70 millions of Americans are having some type of a chronic sleep disorder. Clearly, sleep hygiene has been very neglected among people in the US.

But, sleep deficiency is not a standalone problem, since it usually triggers other health-related issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, obesity or depression. It also interferes with our daily chores, job, school, social life, driving, etc. It can cause problems with memory, stress, learning, focusing, and it will also mess up your emotions, mood, and judgmental abilities. So clearly it is not as naive as it may seem at first. It is a myth that sleeping is overrated because it is actually underrated.

Sleepiness

We all feel sleepy once we start approaching our bedtime, we begin to yawn, our eyelids are fluttering, and our mind is halfway to the dreamland already. And that is a healthy, usual way of feeling sleepy, but sleep-deprived people are experiencing a much harder type of fatigue and sleepiness called excessive daytime sleepiness, which usually tends to become chronic. Although sleepiness occurs as a consequence, at the same time it is also a cause of many other issues that can appear such as mood swings, stress, and depression.

The problem is that many Americans are willfully limiting their sleep time, which sounds ridiculous at first, but when you think about it, people are under constant pressure of working hard and providing for them and their families, and as a consequence, they are constantly sleep-deprived, and the primary symptom of it is sleepiness. Some other causes of acute or chronic sleepiness can be jet lag, working in shifts, or simply skipping a night of sleep in order to catch up with work or exams.

Sleepiness is just like sleep debt hanging around our neck, and once you get it, it seems impossible to get rid of it since it is hindering our daily life, it affects our ability to focus, work or think clearly. Sleepiness is especially dangerous for drivers since it can be so easy to fall asleep behind the wheel, and drowsy driving has been recognized as responsible for more than 100.000 collisions on the road each year.

Some people try dealing with sleepiness by drinking too much coffee during the day, but that just closes them in an enchanted circle. Coffee will keep you awake, but it will also probably postpone your desired bedtime, causing you to go to sleep later even though you have to wake up in the morning, you will not feel rested, and you will already be sleepy once you wake up. There is no such thing as a cure for sleepiness, in order to get rid of it you have to solve the primary problem which caused it. Many sleep disorders can mess up our sleep routine and then cause excessive daytime sleepiness, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, are just the most common ones.

How Can We Measure It?

Well, as we mentioned previously, it can be hard to determine the level of sleep deficiency, and sleepiness since both categories are highly individual and depend on many different factors. So although there are some ways which can nearly determine the current state, it can never be precisely estimated as it can change in a few minutes.

• • Reaction time – this is one way of attempting to measure sleepiness and alertness, but it is still not the best one since the final results can be hindered by many things like medications or brain injuries, so this method cannot really be adjusted to all the specific circumstances and thus it is not objective enough. In diagnosing sleep disorders or mental health problems, various tests are often incorporated, and one of them is the test of vigilance and physical performance. The psychomotor vigilance test lasts briefly, less than 3 minutes, it is designed and created as a simple interactive video game, and it requires quick responses, so it is able to provide us valuable information about the reaction time and overall alertness. Despite the fact that this test is quite accurate and current, there are no indications or information about the way how the individual will perform in a future state of sleep deprivation. Researchers are trying to see whether or not the people with excellent quick results from psychomotor vigilance tests perform better or worse than others when they are sleep deprived, do age or gender play any role? So far there has been no correlation between these characteristics, but many things are still opened and unexamined.
  • Biomarkers – If we could have a generally reliable marker for sleepiness and sleep deficiency, it would be much easier to determine their level. That will be particularly beneficial for some professions that require wakefulness and full attention like airplane pilots, doctors or drivers. The search for biomarkers is essential as they could indicate necessity, history, and future disorders in sleep. Many different neurochemicals and biochemicals are involved in circadian rhythms, so it is possible that a combination of some of them could be the ideal biomarker that researchers are looking for. Various biological indicators and neurochemical have been connected to different aspects of sleep, but each one of them also has another function which is not sleep-related; therefore they are not as specific as they should be in order to be considered as biomarkers. The ideal biomarker would guide us to a particular change in some physiological function connected to sleep. Which is exactly what reaction time tests lack, they are not specific enough, but for now, different forms of these reaction tests are the best we have. Perhaps combining data from all variations of this test could be more helpful in the process of understanding another one of sleep mysteries.
  • A scale – researcher from Australia, dr Murray Johns, established an Epworth Sleepiness Scale for children and adolescents during the 90s, in the form of a short questionnaire with scaled answers, but it is not meant to be used as a diagnostic tool on itself. It consists of 8 questions with a 4-point scale for answers. The score ranges from 0 to 24, the higher the score, the higher are the chances that the person will be dealing with daytime sleepiness in the future. It takes only 2 or 3 minutes to fill it up, and it is available in many world languages.
  • Genetics – this can also be the key solution for measurement, scientists have detected a gene which can be responsible for the fact that some people are more liable to sleep deprivation while others are dealing better with it, but no tests have been taken to examine it thoroughly enough.
  • MSLT – multiple sleep latency test is performed in sleep clinics as a reliable way of collecting data about patients sleep habits. It’s particularly used to measure daytime sleepiness, and how quickly a person falls asleep. During this daytime sleep study, patients will have to take five scheduled naps, with 20-minute breaks in between. Even though it is daytime, patients will be in dark and quiet lab rooms, while sensors are monitoring whether the patients are sleeping and in which sleep phase are they.
  • Blood test – this way of detecting sleep deficiency has recently been tested by the sleep researchers in the United Kingdom, and it is still in the process of improvement. Their study was trying to develop a blood test that will target the biomarkers of sleep deprivation. They kept 36 participants awake for 40 hours, during which they were taking their blood samples multiple times. Later they analyzed changes in sets of genes by a machine learning algorithm, and they were able to detect 68 genes which were affected by the sleep deficiency. Also, they managed precisely to find out, with 92% of accuracy, which blood samples belonged to sleep-deprived participants, and which ones were from those who were well rested. They showed that lack of sleep has an impact even on our blood, and paved the path to many other types of blood-related researches.
  • MWT – the maintenance of wakefulness test is.used to measure alertness and if the patient is able to stay awake for a scheduled period of time. So contrary to most sleep studies, such as MSLT or polysomnogram, this one does not have a goal to put patients to sleep but to keep them awake. Patients are asked to sit still for 4 or 5 trials that last 40 minutes. They should look forward and avoid any action that can stimulate their wakefulness. During that time, they are wired to monitors which follow their eye and chin movements, and also their heart and brain activity. Between each trial they have 2 hours of break time during which they can watch tv, read a book, eat or walk around the clinic, the only thing that they cannot do is to go outside and expose themselves to daylight. Patients who do not have a severe problem with daytime sleepiness should not have issues with staying awake up to 40 minutes. If a patient falls asleep, the trial is stopped before the 40 minutes expire, and after a total of 4 or 5 trials, sleep doctors will analyze collected data and set a diagnose.