Health Tips

Humans can make do longer without food than sleep ,While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors.

Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.

Adequate sleep is essential for the optimal production of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) which repairs and increases muscle and Inadequate sleep depresses the immune system, which can weaken academic or athletic performance, especially during the stress of finals or competition.

Not getting enough sleep causes a rise in ghrelin and a drop in leptin hormonal changes trick the body into  feeling hungry and prevent the body from feeling full even when food intake is adequate. This also contributes to obesity.

Improve the quality of your sleep and life as a shift worker,  and increase your safety on the job and on the road.

Steps you can take to improve your sleep.

Make your room dark : The darker, the better. As a shift worker, you’re waking and sleeping against the natural rhythms oflightness and darkness-the most powerful regulators of our internal clocks.

Block outside sounds : Sleep can be easily interrupted by sudden, unexpected sounds.

Adjust your thermostat before going to bed : A room that is too hot or too cold can disturb your sleep.

Know the side effects of medications : Some medications can increase sleepiness and make it dangerous to drive.

Change the time you go to sleep : After driving home from work, don’t go right to bed. Take a few hours to unwind and relax.

Develop a relaxing sleep ritual : Before going to sleep, try taking a warm bath, listening to soothing music or reading until you feel sleepy —but don’t read anything exciting or stimulating.