9 of 29

Write now Article Tools

"When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep and you're never really awake...nothing is real. Everything is far away. Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy." ~ Quote from Fight Club

Sleep deprivation can cause so many problems for us humans, especially with our modern lifestyles. Somehow we manage to dismiss it as if a little lost sleep can't hurt. Whether it's because your partner is snoring too loud or you have a sleep disorder, it can impact on so many elements of functioning you become a zombie if it persists for any length of time. It's considered hazardous enough that you shouldn't drive or operate machinery, and is employed as an effective method of torture.

The Angle

Now I'll tell you up front: I have personal experience of this and I plan to recount it to illustrate known facts at the time of writing. When I was young I had, but didn't realise, delayed sleep phase disorder. I don't recall a time in my life when getting up at 6 or 7 in the morning has ever been good for me. I also have Fibromyalgia, which is a complicated illness but part of it is a lack of slow-wave sleep, which is the deepest non-REM sleep stage. Therefore even if I sleep 9 hours in bed I could only get 4 hours worth of decent rest.

Fibromyalgia and DSPD play off each other so that any routine which requires me to get up before 10 or 11 in the morning just messes with my ability to function. I've often wondered what it would be like to work on my own schedule regularly; doing the same amount of work just moved forward later in the day. It's only 3 hours but it makes all the difference. In my holidays I'm fine as I can get up when I like, but as soon as I return to work it starts the cycle of debt up again. If I don't get enough sleep in my holiday then it rolls forward to the next time.

How does it feel?

At first it might manifest as grogginess, irritability and a difficulty getting up in the mornings; nothing more than perhaps a hangover without the queasiness. This causes sleep debt and when you eventually go back to sleep, even if you get a full night, the debt still remains from the day before if you didn't sleep beyond your normal routine.

Trying to apply concentration erodes over time and clumsiness increases. So much goes by the way side as you force your eyes open until you can finally crash. Your brain has to work harder to compensate, you snack or go off food completely. Memory fails to back you up.

Triggers

We all have sleep deprivation at some point in our lives. Sometimes

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The consequences of sleep deprivation?
We want to hear your view. Write now!