Coffee Anyone?
Happy Monday everyone. If many of you are like me, (and I suspect you are) you stayed up to not only watch the fiftieth rendition of the Super Bowl, but you stayed up to watch the festivities on the field during the post-game celebrations and awards ceremony. By the time I headed off to the bedroom for some long overdue sleep, I realized that the alarm clock was just rolling past midnight and that 6am was going to come faster than I would have liked. Alas, I know it’s my own fault because I made the decision to stay up rather than go to bed and thus I shall face the consequences of my actions with a nice hot cup of coffee in my hand in the morning.
My morning sleepiness brings me to the point of today’s topic, sleep…or rather the lack of it. In recent years there have been more and more prescription and over the counter aids to help people get a better night rest. The needs for these medications range from an overactive brain to restless legs. There are a whole host of reasons that people fail to get a good night sleep, some self-induced by staying up to watch the big game or finish that really good book…or maybe there is a medical condition that prevents a peaceful nights slumber. Whatever the reason, this past January, the Center for Disease Control released the NCHS Data Brief “Sleep Duration, Quality of Sleep, and Use of Sleep Medication, by Sex and Family Type, 2013–2014” by Colleen N. Nugent, Ph.D. and Lindsey I. Black, M.P.H. The brief shares some valuable information that really impacts us all in some way or another. The lack of a good night’s sleep has a negative effect for diabetic patients, heart disease patients, people suffering from mental health issues such as depression and leads to driving and workplace accidents. According to the brief, one out of three people in the US get less than the recommended seven hours sleep a night…no wonder coffee houses do so well here in the states…
The report looks at the sleep patterns and habits of three primary groups, adults without children, single adults with children under the age of 18 and adults in a two parent household with children under the age of 18. It wasn’t a huge surprise that the adult group without children was able to get the best sleep and the group with the single parent had the least amount of sleep. The point of the article is that as a nation, we are sleep deprived and it is not healthy for us as individuals or as a community. I want to challenge my readers to a week-long test…try and get at least eight hours of sleep a night for the next seven days and then let me know how you feel. I will take up this challenge and report back to you all next week. I know for some this could pose a challenge, but if you can fit in an hour at the gym with a busy schedule, try and fit in some extra sleep and see how you feel. Have a great day and remember, we’re all in this together.
Thanks for reading,
Wm Reid
Best Home Care Services
325 N Eastern Ave
Connersville, IN 47331
765-827-9833
besthomecareservices@comcast.net