Lost Your Cellphone Again?

Rebecca Smith (not her real name) is worried. She just misplaced her cellphone for the fifth time this week and has looked all over the house for it.

“Honey, can you call my cell?” she asks her husband in frustration. He sighs, picks up his phone and dials her number — and the misplaced cell is soon located, accompanied by exclamations of relief (it was tucked away in the pocket of her robe, which was hanging in her bedroom).

We all know how vital it is to get enough sleep every night. Without it, we yawn and drag through the day and maybe even have to grab a nap (if that’s even possible in our busy days) to supplement our shut-eye. But there are obvious signs of sleep deprivation that are staring many of us in the face, including the lost cellphone scenario, so it might be high time to address an all-important health issue.

It might be high time to address this all-important health issue.

Do any of the following signs of being sleep deprived sound familiar to you? If so, you’ll want to adjust your schedule to make sure you’re getting the recommended seven-to-nine hours a night of shut-eye, and if that doesn’t work, talk to your doctor to explore other options so that you get the best rest for your overall well-being, both now and in the long-term.

1. Your alarm clock is your crutch.
Only when we are free of “sleep debt” will we wake up naturally at about the same time each day after our body has completed its restorative tasks. If you adhere to a regular schedule and avoid substances that alter the natural cycling of sleep and waking (including caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco), you should not need to be yanked forcefully from sleep in the morning by an abrasive, stress-inducing buzz of an alarm clock. Much better and healthier is a natural, quiet, and pleasant awakening each morning.

2. You lose things regularly, including your cellphone, keys, or wallet.
Memory consolidation is one of the functions of our REM — rapid eye movement — sleep. We generally get the bulk of our REM sleep in the last half of our sleep session. So if our night is cut short for whatever reason, we miss out mostly on REM sleep and may be more prone to memory glitches. Long-term sleep problems have been shown to have an association with Alzheimer’s disease.

Long-term sleep problems have been shown to have an association with Alzheimer’s disease.

3. You lose your temper at your kids or spouse.
Irritability, lack of tolerance, and impulse-control issues have all been linked to sleep deprivation. This is true for both adults and children. It’s why everyone in the family should make a sleep a nightly priority. Parents will be less likely to fly off the handle if well rested and kids will be more likely to behave.

4. You’d rather eat cookies or cake than kale or cucumbers.
Sleep balances our appetite hormones. With enough sleep under our belt, we will have fewer cravings for carbohydrates and the artificial energy found in sugar-laden snacks. We can then make the healthy food choices more easily and naturally.

5. You can’t seem to shed that extra weight.
Sleep is also the time our bodies are most efficient at producing human growth hormone and testosterone. The hormones help us achieve and maintain a strong, lean body. Without adequate sleep, all our good intentions, diet plans and workout routines will be far less effective than if they’re supported by more shut-eye.

6. You’ve had a fender bender (or two).
One second of inattention or lack of concentration on our part is all it takes. A car traveling at 37 miles per hour will cover 54 yards in 3 seconds. That’s more than half the length of a football field. If the car in front of you brakes suddenly, or if someone turns in front of you, your safety and maybe even your life and the lives of those in the car with you could hang on whether you react fast enough to avoid impact.

Studies have shown that both chronic and short-term sleep deprivation leads to slower reactions times. One study at Stanford University even proved that people who are sleep deprived performed more poorly on reaction time tests than people who were legally drunk.

Patty Tucker, a medical practitioner for over two decades, has specialized in sleep medicine since 2001.

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