Chapter 1. Sleep and Sleeplessness: The Current Scene

1.1 Sleep and Sleeplessness: The Current Scene

Short Description

Today, Americans average only seven hours of sleep each night. In earlier times, they slept nine hours. Sleep researcher, David Dinges, indicates that on average, humans need a full eight hours.

Long Description

Today, Americans average only seven hours of sleep each night. In earlier times, they slept nine hours. Sleep researcher, David Dinges, indicates that on average, humans need a full eight hours.

Although it is clear that we need sleep, its specific function remains unclear. When people are deprived of sleep, explains Dinges, attention and memory wane. The National Sleep Foundation reports that 42 percent of American adults indicate that they are not getting the amount of sleep that they need. Many are seeking help from sleep disorder clinics throughout the country.

Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders. Doctors face a challenge in getting people to recognize that failing to get adequate sleep can be a serious medical condition.

Currently, sleep researchers are investigating how the lack of sleep may affect our bodies as well as our minds. For example, might inadequate sleep be linked to the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes? One study found that healthy young males who received only four hours of sleep per night for six days were in a pre-diabetic state.

Dinges suggests that there is relentless pressure in industrialized societies to have more people awake more of the time. Thus, sleep researchers also study how to keep people awake. For example, the drug Modafinil works on specific neurotransmitters to fool the brain into a state of wakefulness. The hope is that some day the drug may be used to help shift workers maintain alertness in performing their jobs. The U.S. Army is also studying the effects of Modafinil on helicopter pilots who must maintain wakefulness for long periods of time.

Killer whales are able to sleep with one half of their brain at a time. Researchers study their sleep patterns with the hope that this investigation may provide important insights into human sleep disorders and their possible control.

Questions

Question

6JPKaqNm3osckwSP9NCYbZOdGh7IAeWUTkmxksP7kSk4/wFsTusiEYrfigdrdJD7KKGNSXe6b6mvdTQhGMm7JWKfiwYPe6CGiD2p6U1PwZH2zSskSQMFwpbSEdaEygq6iKszii15Tnk+KVsXIds7NAKQpczeQXJaQIQx0Sqy8UrKERIqJjSFyOQC/EpQYRBBsFCFwlY8AmbiupE2VnuezlsKNDaBMtoLaGuq9A93INc5akZalF+xI9Ioo8d/oQQ+IFhIb1mek1M=

Question

sJEHpd0gL0yJ46Hu37czdVsQuVAVO9tTPRbQ4p/sqf+O0y1VhY3F8ZgwV4J0hyNDJBrPJ7a0K0iO+RUdJIWRrf+0tPfEpOIZVuyZP5K9dZWO9o1R2+zwQxY6IPlUpkH6Byl21pim9Ht1Rc/k/bF5dkyewIG+i/x0MaK7NMWnVe1NhQR03qt2DbTJuik=