II) Habits

Disasters caused by Lack of Sleep

Political Gridlock

Could sleep deprivation cause political gridlock and bad legislation? Former president Bill Clinton seems to think so. In a 2007 interview on The Daily Show, Clinton said, "You have no idea how many Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate are chronically sleep deprived ... I do believe sleep deprivation has a lot to do with some of the edginess of Washington today.

Space Shuttle Challenger

When the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart on January 28, 1986, it claimed the lives of seven crew members and shook the nation's faith in the space program. The causes of the disaster are many and complicated, but it's clear that the around-the-clock schedule of the NASA managers and flight crew was a contributing factor.

Auto Accidents

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), "drowsy driving" causes over 100,000 car crashes each year, resulting in about 1,550 deaths. Tired drivers pose a danger to themselves, their passengers, and everyone they share the road with.

Chernobyl

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine is the worst nuclear disaster in history. The trouble started at 1:26 am on April, 26 1986. The cause of the disaster has been partially attributed to human error caused by confusion and, yes, fatigue.

Exxon Valdez

The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 left 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in the waters off Alaska. A report by the Alaska Oil Spill Commission revealed that the third mate of the Valdez -- the person steering the ship at the time of the spill -- may have "been awake and generally at work for up to 18 hours preceding the accident."

Three Mile Island

The key accident that caused the 1979 meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear generator in Pennsylvania occurred at 4am, and was made by operators working the night shift. Experts believe fatigue may have been a contributing factor.



LACK OF SLEEP: The Silent Killer


FACT: Staying awake for 18 hours without sleep can be the same as drinking to the legal limit. Lack of sleep can seriously affect the body’s ability to think clearly and accurately and to move or react normally. If you sleep less than six hours a night you are putting yourself at very serious risk. Lack of sleep is responsible for every two out of three car driving accidents in the USA. Drivers who have been awake for more than 17 hours are significantly slower at reacting. Studies done in England find that long hours without sleep can lead to anxiety and depression as well as increased smoking and alcohol consumption and the taking of unnecessary risks. It affects decision-making and judgment which can lead to lethal results.

FACT: One hour of sleep less than 8 hours a day is equivalent to the limits of drunken driving. For every hour less than 7 hours the equivalent drunken state doubles. This means that at 6 hours of sleep you are equivalent to a highly intoxicated person. Lack of sleep also makes a person perform poorly on the job, makes them prone top accidents and they are sick more often. Lack of sleep hurts your ability to learn impairing attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning and problem solving. It makes it difficult to remember and to recall experiences.

FACT: Lack of sleep can cause heart disease, a heart attack, heart failure, irregular heart beat, stroke, high blood pressure and Diabetes. Twenty per cent of the USA get six or less hours a day of sleep. In the USA, 250,000 drivers in the USA die from accidents caused by lack of sleep. The space shuttle, Challenger, exploded because of human error linked to lack of sleep. The Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashed because the ship’s captain was sleep deprived. The Chernobyl nuclear blast has been linked to lack of sleep (poor judgment and reaction time) by the scientists and maintenance personnel.

The lack of sleep syndrome plagues nearly every nation of the world. It is a result of the “do more, be more”, “time is money”, mentality that has inculcated humanity in industrialized nations. There is also a masculinity mentality that pervades many societies that dictates that a man should be able to “take it”—put up with lack of sleep as a measure of masculine toughness. Such social attitudes lead not only to the injury, or death, of others, but also great potential harm to oneself. Now this “toughness” mentality pervades the corporate world of men and women and is a requirement of the military. Is it any wonder that so many tragic deaths take place in the military when the men and women of the armed forces are plagued daily with lack of sleep. Lack of sleep is harmful to every person. It makes it impossible to function properly and intelligently in any situation.

Lack of sleep contributes to obesity and sickness. The body’s cells do not have adequate rest to function properly, to heal, to repair and replace old tissue with new tissue; to allow physiological systems to perform efficiently. It makes it so that digestion and the repair of muscle tissue are slowed and dysfunctional. Obesity is the result and unhealthy performance is inevitable. We simply must sleep as much as we can. It promotes health. It allows us to think clearly and react quickly. It allows us to repair our bodies and gain strength and perform at our optimum level.










OBSESITY

OBESITY:  The Coming Plague

FACT:  Obesity worldwide rivals the underweight worldwide.  15% of China is obese in just three years.  In Brazil and Columbia the figure is up to 40%.  Obesity is evident even in sub-Saharan Africa and is escalating especially among women.   In all regions of the world obesity escalates as income increases.  In the USA obesity is the most chronic disease—affecting one in four Americans—and increasing.   In Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East its occurrence is now nearly 20 per cent of the population. 

FACT:  Obesity shortens your life and puts you at risk for developing high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and many other health risks.   The more obese you are the greater your risk.  Obese people who carry much of their excess weight around their waist are at highest risk.   Obesity is the excess of body fat which often comes in the form of excess fat tissue and excess water placing a huge burden on our joints, our heart and our lungs. 

FACT:  Several factors influence obesity:  1)  Your genetic make-up.  2)  Your metabolic rate and general physiological traits.  3)  How much you eat, the kind of food you eat and at what time of the day you eat.  Foods high in fat, like oils, diary products and meat, create obesity.  The quantity you eat affects obesity.   If you eat at night and late at night you will become obese.  4)  Sedentary lifestyle;  if you sit most of the day and do not perform vigorous exercise regularly, you will become obese.   

FACT:  To prevent obesity; 1)  Eat low fat, non oily and locally grown foods.  2)  Do not eat after 6pm or late at night.  3)  Engage in aerobic and body strengthening activity for at least an hour every day.  4)  Get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. 

The most significant underlying cause of obesity is an excessive, hedonistic attitude towards everyday life.  Our attitudes and beliefs lead us to obesity.  As our income increases we begin to pursue convenience, comfort and quickness.   We take the elevator when could take the stairs.  We drive a car when we could easily walk.  We wish to be served quickly instead of cooking our own food.  We watch others engage in sports and physical challenges instead of engaging in them ourselves.   We eat late at night instead of at dusk.   All of these behaviors stem from the belief that we have money, convenience and comfort and no longer need to physically engage life.  That is the beginning of obesity and its related diseases.   It is often caused from a misguided belief which leads us to a technology-reliant life—a life of car driving, quick food eating, late night sleeping and television/computer watching. 

We are also mistakenly led to believe that with the increased ability to acquire things we then have the “freedom” to acquire all manner of expensive and exotic items; such as African mahogany wood  (destroying the forests of Brazil and Africa) for our bathrooms, expensive cars (Passive sitting and sending greater oil-based pollutants into the environment) and taking trans-Atlantic flights to far-away places (More sitting and far greater pollution of the atmosphere).  We supplant our physical participation in activities with the buying and selling of goods and services.  We become sedentary which grows into obesity. 

As we get older, whether we are twenty-five,  fifty-five or eight-five, we should be more physically active—not less.   Somehow we have all come to the belief that as we age we deserve to be more comfortable, to work less hard, to engage less effort and to no longer challenge ourselves.   We should, “take it easy”, relax, and believe that we, “no longer have to push ourselves”, we’ve, “arrived”.  We are, “successful”, we can retire.   Retire from what?  Shall we retire from life?  In reality, this is the surest way to sickness and death.  It is the surest way to laziness, alienation, apathy, mental indolence, physical obesity, sickness and death.  As our physical bodies become grossly obese so then does our mind.  Our bodies carry the burden of unnecessary weight and our minds carry the burden of apathy and nonchalance. 

We must face the reality that we must choose to live or to die.  Obesity leads to death.  Fitness and sustained activity lead to health and life.  Our bodies are designed to move very well based on the intended design and loads on our body.   When we alter our body to take on the burden of constant additional loading then our joints, our nerves, our whole bodily system is compromised and begins to alter and fatigue.   This extra burden can become so great that our body can no longer sustain itself and begins to rebel, sicken and eventually, collapse.  It expires prematurely.  Such premature death is the path of obesity and we must do whatever it takes to stop it.