Getting enough sleep is not a luxury reserved for the weekends or when you’re on vacation. Sure, we’re more likely to get a good night’s sleep when our schedules feel less cramped, or when there’s an inviting hammock swaying between two palm trees. But the reality of daily life is that your schedule is likely crowded for the long haul, and vacations only happen every so often throughout the year. You owe it to your health to get a good night’s sleep every night. Your body will thank you for it, too. It turns out that sleep has some very important connections to your health. Simply put, you can’t afford to skimp.
The real deal on how much sleep we need: Why what we think we need is different from what we really need
It’s no secret that we all have our special preferences – just stand in line at the coffee shop and you’ll hear countless drink orders, from soy milk to vanilla flavoring or extra ice and cinnamon sprinkles. Knowing what we like and don’t like is part of what makes us human.
That doesn’t always make us right, though. Sometimes we don’t know ourselves as well as we’d like to think! Take sleep, for instance. Many of us think we have a handle on how much sleep we need. But scientific studies show otherwise. Over the long term, sleep deprivation and chronic lack of sleep actually make it harder for us to accurately gauge whether we are getting the appropriate amount of sleep.