Failing to get enough sleep does much more than slow you down or make you grumpy. It is destructive to your overall health. USA Today spoke with sleep experts and discovered that if you don’t snooze, you lose.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler told USA Today that poor health is the price you pay for ongoing sleep loss.
“When you miss out on sleep, you take out a loan from the sleep bank,” he said. “You can never completely repay the debt — and decreased health is the interest on your loan.”
AASM Past President Dr. Safwan Badr added that sleep is one of the three pillars of health. It is as important as nutrition and exercise.
“It’s hard to lose weight if you are sleep deprived,” he said. “It’s hard to eat healthy if you are sleep deprived. It is hard to exercise if you’re tired.”
The key is to make sleep one of your top health priorities. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that adults get seven to nine hours of nightly sleep for optimal health and alertness.
Talk to your doctor about an ongoing sleep problem. Contact an AASM accredited sleep center for help from a sleep specialist.
Learn more about the health benefits of sleep from the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project.
