Have You Slept Enough Recently?

In our busy and work-submerged life, we often forget the very basic needs that help us keep going every day. Due to the heavy demands of our everyday living, the time that is supposed to be for sleeping is now spent doing work. What happens is that our sleeping time is compromised. Even when we are already lying in bed and trying to sleep, the stress of our work keeps on bugging our brains causing us to stay wide awake even if we feel very exhausted.

The process may sometimes be a loop of unwanted circumstances. When the stress of work gets to us, we find it hard to fall asleep. Even if we do fall asleep, it is usually not enough. When we wake up in the morning after a very short sleep, our body signals us that it is not fully optimized to work. This is why we often feel sleep or even falls asleep at work. When we get a chance, we pause for an hour or so to take a nap. This may relieve us of the exhaustion but it could also contribute to us not falling asleep on time again.

General manifestations of lack of sleep are irritability, inability to concentrate, memory gaps and lapses, muscle aches, sleepiness, yawning, rapid heart rate, tremors, suppression of immunity, and hallucinations in prolonged sleeplessness. Chronic lack of sleep also increases our susceptibility to diseases such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes. It also affects our brain function. The brain cells and the other parts of the nervous system are greatly affected by lack of sleep and their functions decline when the condition persists for a long time.

To be able to sleep more, we should know how and when to relax and take our mind off the stress of our jobs. No matter how much we push ourselves to the limit, we are still humans and our bodies are bound to give up sooner or later if we do not take care of it. When you feel tired and exhausted, take a few minutes or hours to rest and recharge. Work done in full capacity usually turns out better than work done when exhausted.

Our jobs are important and for most of us, it is something that we cannot give up easily. However, if we wish to stay healthy and strong for a long time to be doing this job, we should learn how to balance being stressed by work and being relaxed by a good night's sleep.