Ever heard the phrase “you can sleep when you’re dead?” Well, it turns out that’s some pretty cruddy advice. Obviously, there are times when people won’t be able to get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night that the National Sleep Foundation prescribes for adults (as anyone with a new baby can attest to). But when people do have a choice in the matter, they should make sleep a priority.
Matthew Walker, a sleep scientist and the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, explained during an interview with Blue Ridge Public Radio why chronic sleep deprivation is bad for us.
“Every disease that is killing us in developed nations has causal and significant links to a lack of sleep,” he said. “So that classic maxim that you may [have] heard that you can sleep when you’re dead, it’s actually mortally unwise advice from a very serious standpoint.”
[Editor’s Note: The information provided should not be considered a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a sleep doctor or other medical expert if you have questions related to your own health.]
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It can be tempting to forego sufficient sleep for other things — like watching just one more episode of that Netflix show. Or, people may have an incredibly hectic schedule that doesn’t allow for sufficient sleep on a regular basis.
“We over program our days, and when push comes to shove, we trim our sleep time in order to fit everything in,” journalist Miles O’Brien wrote in a piece for PBS News Hour. “I can, and should, log eight hours of sleep every night. I know this is true, and yet I find it hard to do given the nature of my itinerant work style. The counterintuitive message from the experts is clear: the more we sleep, the more productive our conscious hours will be.”
People living by the motto “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” may feel that minimizing their sleep is helpful or productive, especially when it comes to their job. It’s not. One study found that sleep deprivation among members of the U.S. workforce costs around $411 billion a year — and people are losing 1.2 million working days annually.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, getting enough sleep is crucial for productivity — people who get enough sleep make better decisions, recover from distractions faster, make fewer mistakes, and have better memories.
In short: don’t skimp on sleep believing it doesn’t matter. Pay attention to how much rest you are getting, and try to prioritize sleep.
“Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain,” said Walker, the sleep scientist. “Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.”
[Editor’s Note: The information provided should not be considered a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a sleep doctor or other medical expert if you have questions related to your own health.]
Featured image: fizkes/Shutterstock
