Remember when you could fall asleep as soon as your head hit the pillow and not wake up until the alarm went off?
As we get older, it becomes a little harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. But although our sleep patterns change, our need for sleep doesn’t. Just like diet and exercise, a good night’s sleep is essential for your good health, for keeping you alert and energetic, and for building your body’s defenses against infection, chronic illness, and even heart disease.
A good night's sleep is essential for your health and well-being. Getting too little sleep can cause numerous problems. Lack of sleep not only affects alertness and energy, but it weakens your body's defenses against infection, increases anxiety, and boosts your risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. It's also a safety issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that 1 in 24 adults say they have recently fallen asleep while driving.
Sleep-related problems affect 50 to 70 million Americans of all ages. Do you or your spouse snore? There are hundreds of devices marketed as aids to stop snoring. But the task is to figure out if any of these work for you.