Rest and relaxation are rare pleasures for Americans today. With computers and television they aren't getting the required amount of sleep. 24 hour stores and gyms don't help out the situation any. In fact, the average adult comes up 338 hours (two full weeks) of sleep short at the end of the year. This can lead to serious consequences. Americans need to do more to stop sleep deprivation.
True, caffeine can help restore alertness to sleep deprived people. Pop and coffee contain this, and caffeine pills are the newest trend. On the other hand, many negative mental effects result from forcing the body to stay awake. One effect is restlessness syndrome. Another is anxiety attacks in the night because of stress during the day. An anxiety attack occurs when an individual panics and stays in that panic mode for a certain period of time. Being moody is the most common effect.
English: Percent of Youth 4-17 ever diagnosed with...
English: Percent of Youth 4-17 ever diagnosed with...
Young Couple SleepingMoodiness results from waking up and not being able to sleep again, which then leads to short-tempered behavior the next day.
Granted, businesses are learning that their employees need more sleep to function at their jobs properly. An adult 18-25 needs nine hours of sleep. An adult 25 and older needs eight hours of sleep. With this information airlines and trucking companies set regulated hours on how long a pilot can fly in a day and how long a truck driver can drive. Nevertheless, to many adults are still tired, groggy and lethargic from lack of sleep! At work they suffer with problem solving and learning comprehension because they are so sleep deprived. On a performance and alertness test people who were 0.08 percent drunk (legally drunk in some states) tested against those who stayed up 19 hours. The people who were legally drunk did better. Maybe that's why...