Being Short on Sleep Is A Disaster
Waiting to Happen
May 28, 2015
Story at-a-glance
Sleep deprivation leads to blunted reactions and is
particularly problematic for decision-making involving
uncertainty and unexpected change
Lack of sleep played a role in Chernobyl, Three-Mile Island,
the Challenger explosion, and other catastrophic events
For many, getting enough sleep is a matter of deciding to go
to bed earlier; a fitness tracker can help you determine how
much sleep you’re actually getting
By Dr. Mercola
Lack of sleep can make you irritable, foggy-headed, and
moody, but it’s also a veritable disaster waiting to happen. For
starters, the neural processes that control alertness and sleep
produce an increased tendency toward sleep – along with a
diminished capacity to function – during some late-night hours
(namely from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m.).
This also happens, to a lesser degree, between 2 p.m. and 5
p.m. What’s especially noteworthy about this is these sleepy
periods occur whether or not you’ve gotten proper sleep… and the
effects only intensify if you have not.1
When you forgo sleep, either intentionally or otherwise, your
body may be able to cope somewhat initially.
And many people use stimulants or physical activity to fight
sleepiness. But sleep loss is cumulative, and the longer you go
without proper sleep, the higher the likelihood of tragic error
becomes.
At first you might be able to fool your body into believing
you can function normally, but as reported in the journal
Sleep, as soon as you let your guard down, overwhelming
sleepiness ensues.
“Such unawareness may account for seemingly
incomprehensible instances in which individuals have
permitted themselves to sleep in circumstances that cause
great hazard for themselves and others. Thus, the more sleep
is disturbed or reduced, for whatever reason, the more
likely an individual will inadvertently slip into sleep.
There is laboratory evidence to suggest that even
brief episodes of sleep, called ‘microsleeps,’ produce
inattention, forgetfulness, and performance lapses,
particularly during the two zones of vulnerability within
the 24-h cycle.”
Sleep Deprivation Leads to Blunted Reactions
Sleep deprivation has played a role in many catastrophic
events, and researchers recently looked into this effect,
specifically in regard to how sleep loss affects
decision-making. Participants underwent two nights of total
sleep deprivation followed by two nights of recovery sleep, then
performed a decision-making test.2
A well-rested control group (who had slept normally)
performed better on the tests than the sleep-deprived group.
Particularly revealing was when the rules for the test were
reversed… and none of the sleep-deprived volunteers got
the right answer, even after 40 tries. The study’s lead author
told NPR:3
"It wasn't just that sleep-deprived people were
slower to recover… Their ability to take in new information
and adjust was completely devastated."
The researchers concluded that sleep deprivation is
particularly problematic for decision-making involving
uncertainty and unexpected change. They concluded:
“Blunted reactions to feedback while sleep deprived
underlie failures to adapt to uncertainty and changing
contingencies. Thus, an error may register, but with
diminished effect because of reduced affective valence of
the feedback or because the feedback is not cognitively
bound with the choice.
This has important implications for understanding and
managing sleep loss-induced cognitive impairment in
emergency response, disaster management, military
operations, and other dynamic real-world settings with
uncertain outcomes and imperfect information.”
Major Disasters Caused by Lack of Sleep
Sleep deprivation leads to accidents both big and small, some
of which prove to be fatal. For instance, according to the
documentary “Sleepless
in America,” diagnostic mistakes shot up by 400 percent
among doctors who had worked for 24 consecutive hours.
Sleep-deprived medical residents also reported a 73 percent
increase in self-inflicted needle sticks and scalpel stabs, and
when driving home from work, they had a 170 percent increased
risk of having a serious motor vehicle accident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates
that drowsy driving results in 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries,
and more than 100,000 accidents each year.4
And when a sleep-deprived person is in charge of an airplane, a
space shuttle, a train, a nuclear power plant, or an oil
supertanker, the death toll rises… some of the most catastrophic
disasters related to sleep deprivation include:5
1. Chernobyl
When the Chernobyl reactor melted down in 1986,
approximately 134 plant workers and firefighters were
exposed to high doses of radiation – 800 to 16,000 mSv – and
developed acute radiation sickness. Of those 134 workers, 28
died within 3 months of exposure.
In total, more than 160,000 children and 146,000 cleanup
workers became victims of radiation poisoning as a result of
living and working in that radiotoxic environment, raising
the incidence of birth defects, leukemia, anemia, cancers,
thyroid disease, liver and bone marrow degeneration, and
overall severely compromised immune systems.
These, however, are only estimates, and according to some
data, Chernobyl deaths may actually top 1 million.6
The engineers involved in the disaster had worked 13 hours
or more before the meltdown.
2. Three-Mile Island
Early one morning in 1979, the nuclear plant on Three
Mile Island in Pennsylvania began losing coolant. It was
between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., and the workers didn’t notice
until the core had significantly overheated and melted. The
incident was attributed to “human error due to sleep
deprivation.”
3. The Challenger Explosion
The space shuttle Challenger exploded after its launch in
January 1986, killing all seven on board. Managers involved
in the launch had slept just two hours before reporting to
work at 1 a.m., and the Presidential Commission on the
accident noted:
"The willingness of NASA employees in general to
work excessive hours, while admirable, raises serious
questions when it jeopardizes job performance,
particularly when critical management decisions are at
stake."
4. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
In 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground in
Alaska, spilling 258,000 barrels of crude oil into the
environment. The crew had just finished a 22-hour shift
loading the oil, and the ship’s third mate was asleep at the
helm when the tanker ran aground.
Health Consequences of Too Little Sleep
Disruptions to sleep tend to cascade outward throughout
your entire body. For example, during sleep your brain
cells also shrink by about 60 percent, which allows for more
efficient waste removal.7
Sleep is also intricately tied to important hormone levels,
including melatonin, production of which is disturbed by lack of
sleep. This is extremely problematic, as melatonin inhibits the
proliferation of a wide range of cancer cell types, as well as
triggers cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction).
Lack of sleep also decreases levels of your fat-regulating
hormone leptin while increasing the hunger hormone ghrelin. The
resulting increase in hunger and appetite can easily lead to
overeating and weight gain.
Separate research also found that when participants cut their
sleep from 7.5 to 6.5 hours a night, there were increases in
activity in genes associated with inflammation, immune
excitability,
diabetes, cancer risk, and stress.8
Poor or insufficient sleep was even found to be the
strongest predictor for pain in adults over 50.9
Interrupted or impaired sleep can also:
Increase your risk of heart disease and cancer
Harm your brain by halting new neuron production. Sleep
deprivation can increase levels of corticosterone (a stress
hormone), resulting in fewer new brain cells being created
in your hippocampus
Contribute to a pre-diabetic, insulin-resistant state,
making you feel hungry even if you've already eaten, which
can lead to weight gain
Contribute to premature aging by interfering with your
growth hormone production, normally released by your
pituitary gland during deep sleep (and during certain types
of exercise, such as high-intensity interval training)
Trying to counteract the effects of sleep deprivation with an
energy drink isn’t a wise choice. For starters, your body won’t
be fooled. While you might get a temporary energy boost, the
negative effects of sleep deprivation are still lurking.
Consuming large quantities of caffeine and other stimulants in
energy drinks can have serious health consequences as well,
especially in children and teens, including caffeine toxicity,
stroke, anxiety, arrhythmia, and in some rare cases death.
Drinking energy drinks has also been compared to “bathing” teeth
in acid because of their impact on your tooth enamel.10
If you’re feeling fatigued in the afternoon, try a quick nap.
The “ideal” nap time appears to be around 20 minutes (any longer
and you’ll enter the deeper stages of sleep and may feel groggy
when you wake up). If
afternoon fatigue is a regular issue for you, one of the
most common causes is post-lunch hypoglycemia, which is related
to your inability to effectively burn fat.
By switching your body over from primarily burning carbs to
primarily burning fats for fuel or becoming “fat adapted,” you
virtually eliminate such drops in energy levels. To switch to
fat-burning mode, you’ll need to swap out unhealthy carbs (i.e.
non-vegetable carbs) with healthy fats, which include the
following.
Intermittent fasting can also help you switch from carb- to
fat-burning mode.
How to Become a Better Sleeper: Know When to Turn Off the Lights
One of the greatest plights of modern-day sleep is the
introduction of light-emitting electronic devices to the
bedroom. Research shows that 90 percent of Americans use an
electronic device within an hour of going to bed, and this is
associated with poor sleep.11
A study also compared the use of an iPad for four hours before
bed (for five consecutive nights) to reading a print book for
the same period.12
There were significant biological effects of iPad use before
bed, including:13
Reduced secretion of melatonin, a hormone that induces
sleepiness
Delayed circadian rhythm of more than an hour
Feeling less sleepy before bedtime
Feeling sleepier and less alert the following morning,
even after eight hours of sleep
Spending less time in REM sleep
One of the study’s authors noted: "We found the body's
natural circadian rhythms were interrupted by the
short-wavelength enriched light, otherwise known as blue light,
from these electronic devices."
The blue light emitted from electronics such as cell phones,
tablets, TVs, and computers suppresses your
melatonin production, thereby preventing you from feeling
sleepy. What you may not realize is that even if you don't
feel sleepy, you need sleep. You've simply
artificially disrupted your body clock; you have not in any way
altered your body's biological needs.
Last year, I interviewed Dan Pardi on the topic of
how to get restorative, health-promoting sleep. Pardi is a
researcher who works with the Behavioral Sciences Department at
Stanford University and the Departments of Neurology and
Endocrinology at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
In addition to avoiding blue light at night, be careful with
turning on bright lights in the bathroom if you’re brushing your
teeth before bed or using the bathroom in the middle of the
night. Pardi also recommends getting at least 30-60 minutes of
outdoor light exposure during daylight hours in order to
"anchor" your master clock rhythm.
The ideal time to go outdoors is right around solar noon but
any time during daylight hours is useful. If you can’t get
outdoors in the morning, try turning on your indoor lighting,
which should have a similar ambient brightness to a sunrise.14
Once the sun has set, the converse applies. After sunset you
want to avoid light as much as possible in order for
your body to secrete melatonin, which helps you feel sleepy.
To optimize sleep, you need to make sure you’re going to bed
early enough. If you have to get up at 6:30 a.m., you’re just
not going to get enough sleep if you go to bed after midnight.
Many
fitness trackers can now track both daytime body movement
and sleep, allowing you to get a better picture of how much
sleep you’re actually getting.
Newer fitness trackers like Jawbone’s UP3, which should be
released later this year, can even tell you which activities led
to your best sleep and what factors resulted in poor sleep. In
addition, to achieve more restful, restorative sleep, I suggest
you read through my full set of
33 healthy sleep guidelines for all of the details, but to
start, consider implementing the following changes:
Avoid watching TV or using your computer in the
evening,at least an hour or so before
going to bed. As mentioned, these devices emit blue
light, which tricks your brain into thinking it's still
daytime. Normally, your brain starts secreting melatonin
between 9 pm and 10 pm, and these devices emit light that
may stifle that process. Even the American Medical
Association now states:15
“…nighttime electric light can disrupt circadian
rhythms in humans and documents the rapidly advancing
understanding from basic science of how disruption of
circadian rhythmicity affects aspects of physiology with
direct links to human health, such as cell cycle
regulation, DNA damage response, and metabolism.”
Make sure you get BRIGHT sun exposure regularly.
Your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in
approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the
day and complete darkness at night. If you are in darkness
all day long, it can't appreciate the difference and will
not optimize your melatonin production.
Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as
possible. The slightest bit of light in your
bedroom can disrupt your body’s clock and your pineal
gland's melatonin production. Even the tiniest glow from
your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep, so
cover your radio up at night or get rid of it altogether.
Move all electrical devices at least three feet away from
your bed. You may want to cover your windows with drapes or
blackout shades. If this isn’t possible, wear an eye mask.
Install a low-wattage yellow, orange, or red
light bulb if you need a source of light for navigation at
night. Light in these bandwidths does not shut down
melatonin production in the way that white and blue
bandwidth light does. Salt lamps are handy for this purpose.
You can also download a free application called F.lux that
automatically dims your monitor or screens.16
Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher
than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Many people keep their
homes too warm (particularly their upstairs bedrooms).
Studies show that the optimal
room temperature for sleep is between 60 to 68 degrees
F.
Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime.
This increases your core body temperature, and when you get
out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that
you are ready to sleep.
Avoid using loud alarm clocks. Being
jolted awake each morning can be very stressful. If you are
regularly getting enough sleep, you might not even need an
alarm.
Get some sun in the morning, if possible.
Your circadian system needs bright light to reset itself.
Ten to 15 minutes of morning sunlight will send a strong
message to your internal clock that day has arrived, making
it less likely to be confused by weaker light signals during
the night. More sunlight exposure is required as you age.
Be mindful of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in
your bedroom. EMFs can disrupt your pineal gland
and its melatonin production, and may have other negative
biological effects as well. A gauss meter is required if you
want to measure
EMF levels in various areas of your home. Ideally, you
should turn off any wireless router while you are sleeping.
You don’t need the Internet on when you are asleep.