Sleepless in Nebraska

How much sleep did you get last night? If you live in Nebraska, odds are one in three or four that it was less than seven hours and not enough for a body to recharge all its parts, reports Extension Educator Susan Harris-Broomfield.
    The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has made it official: Sleep Deprivation is a public health problem.
    Fifty years ago, Americans slept an hour to an hour and a half more than they do today. Some might be proud of accomplishing more in a day and sleeping less, but they should consider how the body deprives itself of crucial processes when that happens.
    While proper nutrition and activity rank right up there, sleep performs magic that no other body function does:
    Sleep flushes diseased and damaged bits of toxins and waste from our brains. It also performs a process called consolidation, which cements information learned throughout the day into the brain and retains it.
    Sleep plays a role in metabolism and helps control hunger hormones.
    Sleeping triggers tissue growth that heals injuries and creates virus-fighting cells to boost immunity to illness.
    Creativity, energy levels, and positive moods increase with sleep, while it also fights stress.
    Muscles and organs rebuild critical cells during sleep.
    Sleep is the single most effective way to reset body functions for good health. Going without it means risking a whole slew of body breakdowns, including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and even obesity.
    One of the main symptoms of all sleep problems is daytime sleepiness. Sometimes sleep deprivation will show itself in other ways, such as irritability, confusion, memory loss, concentration problems, or depression.
    Ways to achieve better quality sleep include the following:
    Go to bed, and more importantly, get up at the same time every day.
    Sleep in a room temperature of 60 to 68 degrees.
    Turn off all devices so there is no lighting up, dinging, vibrating, or ringing. Phone alarms still work in silenced or airplane modes.
    Allow eyes to take in plenty of bright light first thing in the morning and avoid it in the evening. Lower lights in the house after the sun goes down.
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