Caffeine may improve
alertness, alcohol may lower it, and certain foods may have
either a stimulant or sedating effect, but none has as great an
impact on daily life as the adequacy of one’s sleep.
Objective tests show
that the average adult is only slightly more sleepy than people
with medical problems that compromise alertness, such as sleep
apnea, a disorder in which breathing stops repeatedly during
sleep, and narcolepsy, whose most prominent symptom is
sleepiness.
The need for sleep is as
basic as those for food and water. Although much about it
remains a mystery, sleep is no longer the locket and chained
black box that it once was. Learn to sleep well and you will
probably also learn to live well.
