What is Sleep?

Sleep is characterized by three features:
1) It is a fleeting reversible state (the person can be awakened)
2) It is a behavioral need (some people need more sleep than others)
3) It is a perceptual detachment from the environment (one is not aware of their surroundings whilst asleep)

It is believed to be habitual, as we all have different sleep requirements, patterns, habits or cycles. As we go further into deep sleep, the brain gradually becomes less responsive to visual, auditory and other environmental stimuli during the transition from wake to sleep.

Sleep is required by the body to rejuvenate both mind and body; experts believe that the mind organizes its thoughts whilst the person is sleeping. Likewise, your muscles take the chance to rebuild its fibers to prepare for another day of work!

Sleep Debt
Everyone has to sleep at some point during the day. When work demands push us beyond the limit and we go sleepless for more than 24 hours, our sleep deficit builds up, and our reflexes and mental functions begin to slow down. This sleep deficit builds up throughout the week, causing us to become less productive at work, irritable, depressed and sleepy. The negative effects of our sleep debt start to surface in everyday activities like driving and studying.

Many companies today encourage their executives to clock 100-hour work weeks. They also applaud the road warrior who lives out of a suitcase in multiple time zones, and promotes the employee who takes a red-eye flight to make an 9 am meeting. This kind of corporate behavior is the antithesis of high performance. It endangers employees and puts other people’s lives at risk.
There are neurobiological functions that affect sleep duration and quality, as well as individual performance. When these functions fall out of alignment because of sleep deprivation, people then operate at a far lower level of performance than they would if they were well rested.

Unsurprisingly, many repay their sleep debt by sleeping on weekends. Such ‘crash and burn’ methods are extremely draining on the body and are not the solution in the long term. With decreased sleep, higher order cognitive tasks like reasoning and important decision making are hampered; speed and accuracy are also affected. In driving simulations, accidents increase progressively as total sleep duration is decreased to seven, five, and three hours per night over a week.