One sleepless night seems okay, two sleepless nights isn’t ideal, three sleepless nights well, it looks like we might have a problem. Approximately two-thirds of all adults, spanning all developed nations do not obtain the recommended eight hours of sleep every night. This means that the greater population suffers from chronic sleep loss.
Why do we stave off sleep when we know its a necessity to life? Do we truly know just how important sleep is to our mental, physical, and emotional well being?
These stunning sleep facts, stats, and trends in 2020 will help shed some light on the importance of sleep.
Sleep consists of 2 states of being: rapid eye movement or REM, and non-rapid eye movement or NREM. Our conscious cycles between the two every 90 minutes.
Age plays a role in how much REM and NREM sleep a person gets. Infants and toddlers need more REM sleep as it helps to develop essential brain functions.
It takes on average 10-15 minutes to fall asleep. If you find yourself falling asleep faster than this, it could mean you are suffering from sleep deprivation.
Older individuals aged 40 – 59 get less sleep than the recommended amount needed. 20% of teenagers get less than 5 hours of sleep when their average sleep time is set at 6.5 hours.
Individuals that sleep less than six hours every night are at a tenfold greater risk of premature mortality.
Chronic sleep loss is associated with a 45% increased risk of developing coronary heart disease.
Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders world-wide, making it hard for individuals to fall asleep and stay asleep.
People with insomnia are 10 to 20 times more likely to suffer from clinical depression or anxiety.
Over 60 million Americans alone suffer from Insomnia or chronic sleep loss.
Sleep technology has been growing over the last couple years. There is a huge emphasis on sleep aids and the importance of sleep and we can see this through things like Fitbit or the Calm app. Don’t hit snooze on your sleep. Make it a priority in your life, something that you look forward to, something that comes easy to you.