Forget about yawning, waking up tired or feeling low in energy, Long term sleep deprivation will cause long term health problems that will negatively effect your life. Thats if you live that long by avoiding a car crash or the like caused by tiredness.
Sorry If this blog post is a bit blunt, but I feel its something thats important and should be addressed, you can’t drive or work if your as high as a kite or pissed to your eyeballs, yet been sleep deprived is the just the same if not worse.
I often look back on when I first started personal training and wonder how on earth I survived my 45 minute drive to the gym at 5am to start training my first client. When I had only stopped working 8 hours before this.
Like the many people I speak to every week, I was sacrificing my sleep (my health) for financial gain. Driving through speed camera areas was the worse as concentrating more just seemed to make me more sleepy. I used to hate the first few hours of work, I felt like I couldn’t concentrate, Speak properly and an overwhelming sense of guilt dawned upon me as the service I was offering was far from my best. Been a perfectionist this caused me great heartache and I knew something had to be done.
I realised that whoever designed the 40 hour work week was a genius, as this allows the perfect life balance, sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 hours and LIVE for 8 hours. Unfortunately we live in a very competitive slave driven environment where the individual who is prepared to work the most is benefited despite the fact that they are operating at no where near normal or optimal efficiency. I fear that in the future there will be many subjected to the 20 hour work day followed by illness and premature death.
If you are working more than 40 hours a week, I suggest you look into changing this, as I’m sure the extra effort you are putting in will be far from your best, mistakes will be made and eventually you will become ill and replaced.
I believe that sleep should be looked upon, just as importantly as eating and breathing as without it you will die.
Without enough sleep, your chances of developing a poor immune system, poor memory, respiratory problems, an increased appetite due to hormonal imbalances, and all illnesses developed as a result from gaining excess weight such as diabetes, heart attack and stroke are all the more inevitable.
Look after your self now or pay for it later.