In the modern world, there are many thing’s that keep us from getting high quality sleep. After all, restful, quality sleep is now competing against the world of binge TV, work emails and social media’s massive influence on our day 24/7.
“We’re competing against moneyed interests, with technology and gaming and all that. It’s so addictive and so hard to compete with,” said Orfeu Buxton, a sleep researcher at Pennsylvania State University. In the past 70 years, the average adult in North America sleep about 1 hour less a night.
In an incredibly short time, humans have dropped the priority of sleep as the saying “I’ll sleep when I am dead” has become a common excuse for not prioritizing quality sleep. Research is showing that saying may be terribly ironic, as not getting enough sleep may get you dead faster.
Human’s evolved over millions of years, and only for a very recent period have they had their sleep greatly reduced by outside sources such as computers, social media and television. While these technologies have helped million’s live a better life, they have negatively impacted our ability to get enough sleep every night”
So how much high quality sleep do we need? That depends on you age, but generally:
“A lot of medical approaches have ignored the quality and length of their patients sleep,” said Ken Paller, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern. Despite doctor’s regularly screening for disorders such as high blood pressure or depression, they often don’t ask those same patients how they are sleeping. Disorders such as depression are shown to be closely linked to poor sleep and Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Despite the rapidly growing interest in sleep, most sleep researchers and clinical care companies like Snore MD know the risk of too little sleep is still not a large enough priority in our day.
If you or someone you love isn’t getting the recommended sleep every night, Snore MD can help get you get the high quality sleep we all need!
About the author:
Michael Davis is Snore MD’s Director of Optimal Patient Care and community awareness. Driven by a passion for quality of everyday life, Michael became a Respiratory Therapist in 2009 with the goal of helping Canadians sleep better. With experience in critical care medicine, sleep medicine and pulmonary disorders, Michael leads a team of 15 skilled Sleep Clinicians and Respiratory Therapists to help thousands of British Columbians Sleep Better – Live Better.
