A good night's sleep is often the first thing to go when we have an important work deadline or health issue. I know this from firsthand (and recent!) experience: I let a foot injury kept me up until 4 a.m. today even though I know that cheating sleep - or getting a poor night of sleep - is bad for my health.
But is skimping out on sleep now and again really that bad? As Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, MD, and Stanford sleep expert William Dement, MD, PhD, explain in a recent CNN feature: yes. When we rest, our bodies go to work, Gupta explains: "When your head hits the pillow, your body doesn't shut down. It uses that time to heal tissue, strengthen memory, even grow."
Dement, who founded the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences and Medicine in the 1970s and has devoted his career to understanding sleep, has lots of experience with patients who miss out on these benefits because they don't sleep well - due to obstructive sleep apnea. (The disorder, he says, affects 24 percent of adult males in the U.S.) In the piece, he and Gupta discuss the risk factors, such as excess weight and large tonsils, linked to sleep apnea and what can be done to alleviate the problem.
If you have a few minutes, this video is worth a watch. Dement makes his first appearance at the 2.5-minute mark.
Previously: Stanford doc gives teens a crash course on the dangers of sleep deprivation, William Dement: Stanford Medicine's "Sandman", Stanford docs discuss all things sleep, Why untreated sleep apnea may cause more harm to your health than feeling fatigued and What are the consequences of sleep deprivation?
Photo, which originally appeared in Stanford Medicine, by Lenny Gonzalez
