Wellness Wednesday tip from the Heskett Center
- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.
- Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent.
- Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hours) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal.
- Ten percent of snorers have sleep apnea, a disorder that causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours of lost sleep for parents in the first year. To read all 40 facts from the National Sleep Research Project, go to http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm.