Jeepers, Sleepers, Shut Your Peepers

Get out of bed, sleepy head.

That old song was about a different time. In this 24/7 world, we have a different problem: We get too little sleep, not too much.

Experts estimate one-quarter to one-half of all Americans don't get the sleep they need. Sleep deprivation can help cause life-threatening obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, doctors say. Too little sleep can also harm our mental and physical abilities and cause injuries -- even death -- in highway and workplace accidents. Drivers who are fatigued cause about 100,000 vehicular accidents and 1,500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep each night. If you don't get enough sleep over several nights, your need for sleep increases, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Eventually, your body will force you to make up for the lack of sleep. Even if you think you function fine with less sleep, your judgment and reaction time are affected.

How do you know if you are sleep deprived? According to the NINDS, you aren't getting enough sleep if you feel drowsy during the day, and if you fall asleep within five minutes of lying down.

Getting the right amount of sleep "is just as important to our health as diet and exercise," says Carl E. Hunt, M.D., director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. "Many people would say, 'Sure, I know what you're saying, it makes good sense, but I just can't do it, I have all these things to do.' There's also the macho perception that if you're motivated and want to get ahead, you can learn to get along with less sleep than experts say you should get."

Modern culture also has an impact. "All sorts of things tempt us: television, the Internet. Plus we have demands on our time and extend our work time to unusual hours, leading people to choose to stay up longer and sleep less," says Lawrence Epstein, M.D., president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

It's a bad choice. "People have to realize that sleep is one of the body's essential needs," Dr. Epstein says. "What you want to be doing is things to promote sleep, and avoiding things that interfere with sleep."