Kin 1600 Wellness Essay - Sleep Schedule

Wellness Philosophy/ KIN Spring 2015 –Sleep Schedule

Ever since I have begun life in college, I have found going to bed on a decent time each night a very troublesome task. I wake up feeling very tired the next morning, and I always seem in a rush to get my day started. Because of staying up so late and then not waking up on time, I am sometimes late to work or class. In addition, I find myself very tired and stressed throughout the day. This in effect makes me often irritable toward other people. I am tired of living my life in a constant flurry every morning. Thus, the behavioral change that I would like to alter is my sleeping schedule. Being tired after a night of sleep just leads to anxiety and causes even more problems for me. I am determined to fix this issue for myself by setting some goals and planning.

Throughout the course of history, people did not always struggle with their sleep schedule. Virginia Tech History Professor Roger Ekirch conducted some research to study the sleeping schedule of humans in the 18th century. Before the 1800s, acquiring the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night was accomplished in two separate four-hour cycles per night. Ekirch discovered that people would actually sleep for a four-hour period, followed by a 2 to 3 hour period of wakefulness, and then another four-hour sleep cycle. This was in fact the common method of sleeping during these times. In the period between the four-hour sleep cycles, people would engage in certain activities such as meditation, prayer, or reading. However, shortly after the end of the 20th century, this sleeping schedule method became obsolete. In the present day, the norm is for people to acquire sleep over a continuous 8-hour cycle. Unfortunately, the following statistics prove that humans domestically and globally are struggling to get a full night of rest.

Sleep deprivation is a common problem among many Americans. Obtaining an adequate amount of sleep per night is a very important aspect of mental health. Approximately 70 million Americans are affected by some kind of sleeping problem. This figure constitutes those that may have a sleeping disorder such as insomnia or just not getting to bed on a good time. A poll conducted by the National Sleep Organization from 2011 reported that 43% of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 rarely or never get a good night's sleep on weeknights. On average, a person should get about 8 hours of quality sleep per night. In a recent survey of 1000 Americans conducted through the National Geographic Channel, 73% of Americans over the age of 18 reported sleeping less than the 8-hour requirement per night. Being deprived of sleep can cause anxiety for some people, but insufficient sleep can also lead to physical illnesses as well such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Nearly 80% of Americans agree that a lack of sleep causes concentration