Sleep is essential in a series of studies performed in the 1980s, rats were kept awake indefinitely. After just five days, they started dying.
Some of the most pressing problems we face as a modern society are linked to poor sleep. The connection between sleeping and risk of accidents is strong; lack of sleep affects our ability to concentrate and function correctly. In fact, drowsiness in sleep-deprived drivers is most probably the main cause of more than 100,000 crashes, 71,000 injuries and over 1,500 deaths each year1.
In the U.S, 52% of accidents involving heavy trucks were related to driver fatigue!2 On a personal level, we all know how miserable we feel after a night of poor sleep. Actually, with continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected. For example, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine). This is the legal drink-driving limit in the UK and many European countries3.
Moreover, studies show a growing link between poor sleep and a variety of serious health problems, including hypertension and depression4.
In fact, Sleep loss has powerful potential implications for obesity and diabetes; both have grown to epidemic proportions in recent years.
