A Thought to Sleep On

“Look well rested” promises the headline on a cosmetic surgery ad, pushing “a breakthrough gentle eye procedure that has you in on Friday and back to work on Monday.”

Admiring though we are of medical miracles, let us humbly suggest that the “gentle eye procedure” most Americans really need is simply to shut those eyes more often and keep them closed longer.

Study after study has shown that the average American gets far less sleep than the eight hours per night--nine for adolescents--the body needs. The snooze debt snowballs like a credit card bill: Although an occasional short night is no big deal, leaving the sleep account unpaid night after night takes its toll. The body loses resistance to germs and injury. Sleep deprivation can increase the risk of depression and aggression, interfere with attention and reduce reaction time. Absenteeism, errors and grouchiness go up; productivity, imagination and wit go down.

Lack of sleep is a contributing factor in a growing number of highway crashes, sometimes involving truckers with a long way to go and a short time to get there. Pilots, air-traffic controllers and emergency-room doctors are among those mandated to get a certain amount of sleep, for the public’s safety.

A newly approved pill offers hope for those who suffer from medical insomnia. But a larger factor in this go-go-go era is simply lifestyle. There are too many other things that want doing, from the work that computers encourage us to bring home to the growing variety of temptations on the Internet and late-night TV. The siesta has been replaced by the jumbo java.

Is it any wonder society has the jitters?

Take a step toward making life better for yourself and everyone around you: Don’t just look well rested, invest an extra hour a day in being well rested.