Zaynah Farooq
NEUR 300
BLOG POST 2
Sleep is a necessary part for the
functioning of the human body. Without sleep, it is impossible for someone to perform
at their fullest potential at daily tasks, let alone higher functioning
cognitive tasks. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for people to be severely sleep
deprived, and therefore, hindering the quality of the work they do in their
daily lives. The more hours of sleep an individual gets, the more they are able
to be productive and effective at their daily tasks. Extensive research has
been done, examining the effects that sleep deprivation can have on an
individual. It has been shown that not only sleeping less can cause sleep
deprivation, but also simply offsetting one’s circadian rhythm. This can be
done by sleeping at odd hours of the night, being affected by insomnia, and
other effects from disorders that may effect regular sleeping patterns. What is
common across the board is the agreement that sleep is essential in not only
physical health, but a person’s mental health as well. Research done at the
Massachusetts Medical Society largely focuses on the effects of sleep
deprivation on long haul truck drivers. According to an article by the
Huffington Post, sleep debt can cause various reactions in people, like
physical and mental decision-making characteristics.
Loyola
University’s Dr. Gail Baura touched on the significance of sleep deprivation in
long-haul truck drivers, as she reviewed research done by Dr. Mitler and his
lab at Massachusetts Medical Society. The study reviewed 20 male truck drivers
and through different methods of monitoring including electrophysiogical and
performance, it was possible to estimate the amount of sleep each driver was
able to get. The amount of naps and eye rolling movements were also recorded,
as well as some tell-tale signs of sleep. While the recommended required amount
of sleep is around 7 hours, these drivers were getting around 4.78 hours, much
less than the recommended amount. Dr.
Baura spoke about the ways to solve this problem in drivers that are driving
under the influence of extreme sleep debt. Often times, long-haul truck drivers
are under extreme sleep deprivation. Mitler et al. was able to pinpoint that
steady night and steady day drivers had a significance difference in the amount
of sleep they got, with the night drivers getting much less sleep. Perhaps
using different technologies readily available now will be the solution to
lessening the amount of accidents that occur as a result of sleepy driving. Dr.
Baura mentioned that detecting unintended lane departure, self-driving cars,
and EEGs imbedded in the steering wheel could be effective solutions to this
problem. However, within these there are other problems. Eyelid closure
detectors detect when a person is falling asleep and is able to alert the
driver to wake up. It is possible to use this to perhaps lessen the amounts of
accidents occurring by drowsy drivers. Yet, merely electrophysiological
technologies or car/truck technologies are not enough to detect full sleepiness
in a driver, and researchers still look for a way to properly combat this
pressing matter.
While
everyone is aware of the adverse effects of driving while drunk, there is a
shocking revelation that most need to be made aware about, an epidemic worse
than drinking that affects all. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can
lead to the same negative effects of drunk driving, yet nearly everyone has
fallen victim to driving while drowsy.
Sleep is
the time for the body to reset and restore all that was used during the day.
Vital needs need to be met in the human body, and the time for this is during
the night when a person is sleeping. The brain also uses sleep to clear itself
from toxins that accumulate. The much-needed energy used through the day by the
body is also restored during sleep. These all factor into the importance of
sleep for the human body. The HuffPost article titled “Here’s A Horrifying
Picture Of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You” highlights on some of the negative
effects of sleep deprivation. Physically, it is possible that due to the body
not recharging and eliminating toxins during sleep, the possibility for cancers
may increase. Also, the risk for diabetes goes up, while the life expectancy
decreases and sperm count goes down. Due to clogged arteries as a result of
sleep debt, the risk for cardiovascular impairments may also increase, as well
as the quadrupling of the risk of stroke and the increase in risk of obesity.
On the other hand, mentally, people are more likely to have depression and also
have an accident while driving, as discussed in Dr. Gail Baura’s talk.
It is no
surprise that sleep debt and deprivation have negative effects on the human
body. These effects are not only hurting the person experiencing them, but also
those around them. It is very important that everyone keeps their circadian
rhythm in check and is able to get the recommended amount of sleep nightly.
Mitler, M. M., et. al. (1997) The Sleep of Long-Haul Truck
Drivers. Massachusetts
Medical Society, The
New England Journal of Medicine, 24 Feb. 2016,
https://luc.app.box.com/v/neuroseminar/file/251218239087
Schocker, Laura. “Here's A Horrifying Picture
Of What Sleep Loss Will Do To You.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 8 Jan. 2014,
www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/sleep-deprivation_n_4557142.html
No comments:
Post a Comment