An action you will spend about 36 percent of your life doing, sleep is an essential matter that we hardly acknowledge. We usually go to bed without thinking about the importance of it, which brings up a meaningful question. How important exactly, is sleep, and what happens when we don’t get enough of it?

To start, sleep is important for a person’s health and well being according to the National Sleep Foundation. The NIH agrees, saying that sleep protects your mental health, growth, and development. It affects how you think and work with others. Sleep deficiency may lower your grades, affect attention spans, and cause stress.

Sleep does not only benefit you mentally, it provides physical benefits as well. It plays the important role of keeping your heart healthy and  it repairs blood vessels. Sleep also influences the balance of hormones that make you hungry or full. Lack of sleep will unbalance these hormones, making you hungrier. Sleep deficiency will also cause people to have trouble fighting common infections, such as the flu.

The American Psychological Association states that those who do not sleep enough experience irritability, moodiness, and disinhibition. Those who are sleep deprived but do not sleep after these signs will have slowed memory and speech. They will also be worse at multitasking. They will most likely experience microsleep (5- 10 seconds of sleep) that will disrupt their attention. Finally, they will probably fall into hypnagogic hallucinations, which are brief sensory events that are not real.  

How much sleep is enough, though? The NIH states that the hours of sleep required vary from person to person and decreases as you age. Newborns need about 16 – 18 hours a day, while adults usually need 7 – 8 hours of sleep per day.

If you do not get enough sleep at night, make sure to pull up those covers and plop your head on the pillow sooner. Your life relies heavily on rest. Sleep tight!