We joke about sleep deprivation. Especially at my school, Lowell, we even go to extents of boasting about the low amount of sleep we’ve gotten the night before. It’s not uncommon to hear words like, “You got four hours of sleep? What a luxury! I only got two!!!” being exchanged in the halls. What is it that we’re so proud of anyways? The burning eyes, the wavering attention span, or the general irritability? While we’re over here blabbing about losing precious sleep, others are suffering from insomnia and literally can’t sleep.
Since we already know the pain of losing sleep. We’ll skip over the boring symptoms of loss of concentration and slowness in activity and thought as mentioned by the Insomnia information pack from Mayo Clinic. Insomniacs can’t fall asleep, can’t stay asleep, and then feel terrible in the morning. There’s short-term insomnia that lasts up to three months while chronic insomnia lasts for at least three months.
Studies recommend that when you can’t fall asleep, get out of bed and do something else before going back to bed. It may be that glass of milk waiting for you in the fridge or the bathroom calling your name, stop thinking about it and do it. Counting sheep is proven to be ineffective because counting stimulates brain activity so stop doing it
When The Bed Bugs Get You
by Yonglin Chen