Go To Sleep!

1
Go To Sleep!
2

• TASK AT HAND This week Im thinking about sleep.
  An overlooked and neglected component that is
  vital to our optimal reasoning and performance.
  Too often we look to the lack of sleep as a badge
  of honor indicating exemplary endurance. I look
  back at my years as a researcher, medical
  student, and on-call intern and how I would
  consider 30 or 40 hours without sleep a proud
  achievement. Now, I realize that, in those
  instances, I failed to care for myself and
  operated in suboptimal conditions.

3

• We know that sleep restriction and sleep
  deprivation is linked with the development of
  diseases like obesity, diabetes, and
  hypertension. Researchers have shown that severe
  sleep loss jolts the immune system just as stress
  does, impairing our ability to properly tackle
  mental and physical tasks (check out study
  here). Sleep loss quadruples the risk of
  stroke (find the study here). Lack of sleep is
  not a badge of honor rather, it is a mark of
  embarrassment reflecting our myopic
  self-awareness and unwillingness to be our best.

4

• Most healthy adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a
  night. Although some individuals can function
  without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little
  as 6 hours of sleep known as short sleepers
  this represents less than 1 of the population
  so, chances are, this is not you. Short sleepers
  are believed to derive this ability from a
  genetic mutation on the DEC2 gene (check out the
  study here).

5

• GRATIS Man is the only mammal that willingly
  delays sleep. Stop doing it! For your health and
  engagement, go to sleep!
•  
• My best to you,
• David Almeida
• david_at_davidalmeidamd.com
• - See more at http//davidalmeidamd.com/2017/03/
  sthash.NrKqEN6t.dpuf