Condition Spotlight

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.

The way you feel while you’re awake depends in part on what happens while you’re sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.

Seven tips for a good night’s sleep.

Insomnia is the most common sleep problem in adults age 60 and older. People with this condition have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Insomnia can last for days, months, and even years. Often, being unable Read More

Napping Tips: How To Take a Nap

Humans are nearly alone in the animal kingdom not for our immense intelligence or our mastery of tools, but for our sleeping schedules. Humans are monophasic sleepers, which means we typically experience rest all at Read More

The Importance of Serotonin

It was once thought that our brains and nervous systems were like an electrical wiring grid, but research now tells us that they are much more complicated than this. The brain and nervous system may Read More

How Much is Enough Sleep?

Along with nutrition and exercise, sleep is one of the three pillars of a healthy lifestyle. In the US more than 40% of us get less than seven hours of good rest each night. It’s Read More

Sleep Center News Tips

Like a healthy diet and regular exercise sleep is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. A good nights sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Lack of sleep can affect your immune system. Read More

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We spend up to a third of our lives asleep. Although some hard-driven people may view sleep as an inconvenience that curtails productivity and leisure activities, slumber is certainly no waste of time. In fact, sleep may play a more crucial role than diet or exercise in fostering optimal health. Sleep is a natural restorative, an antidote to the damage done to our bodies during the course of the day. It allows the body to replenish its immune system, eliminate free radicals, and ward off heart disease and mood imbalances. As an essential part of the daily human cycle, sleep is a determining factor in the state of a person’s health.

A National Sleep Foundation Survey found millions of Americans are suffering from daytime sleepiness—43% of adults say that they are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with daily activity. Drowsy driving causes at least 100,000 car accidents in the U.S. each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 62% of adults reported driving while feeling drowsy. And 60% of children under the age of 18 complained of feeling tired during the day, while 15% admitted to falling asleep at school.

The quantity and quality of sleep vary from person to person, but how well and how long one sleeps is ultimately the result of physical and psychological influences. Not only does stress, illness, and anxiety contribute to sleep disorders, but so can external circumstances, such as a noisy sleeping room, as well as disturbed biological rhythms due to night-shift work and jet lag. A shortened attention span, the loss of physical strength, and difficulty in responding to unfamiliar situations are all common symptoms of sleep disorders.