How Much Sleep Do You Get?

There really are not enough hours in the day. Especially when Sunday night rolls around and you aren't quite ready to let go of the weekend. So, as you are milking the last minutes of freedom out of the weekend, you are also losing valuable sleep. How many hours of sleep do you average per night?

Ever heard "You can sleep when you're dead"? Well, if that's the way you've been living, you might be destined to an early grave.

Here are some depressing facts from Web MD:

The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days. Getting too little sleep creates a "sleep debt," which is much like being overdrawn at a bank. Eventually, your body will demand that the debt be repaid. We don't seem to adapt to getting less sleep than we need, while we may get used to a sleep-depriving schedule, our judgment, reaction time, and other functions are still impaired.

Did you realize that when we are sleep deprived that our sensitivity to pain increases? Other unfortunate side effects of our sleep starved states:

• Memory problems
• Depression
• A weakening of your immune system, increasing your chance of becoming sick

I wake up most mornings (at an un-Godly hour) truly mourning lost sleep. I throw a little bit of a silent tantrum during my foot dragging walk to the bathroom. Somewhere between the bathroom and the coffee pot I start daydreaming of the possibility of an afternoon nap. Usually by 8 pm, after a long nap-less day, I'm just hoping to get in bed by 10 and before I know it I'm up and saying dirty words on my way to the bathroom again. It's a brutal cycle.

Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 56,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1,500 deaths each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since drowsiness is the brain's last step before falling asleep, driving while drowsy can -- and often does -- lead to disaster. Caffeine and other stimulants cannot overcome the effects of severe sleep deprivation. --Web MD

The National Sleep Foundation says you are probably too tired to drive if you:

• have trouble keeping your eyes focused
• can't stop yawning
• can't remember driving the last few miles

If you're like me, you probably show up in your driveway on a routine basis without any recollection of your trip home. Now, sometimes I think that I am just lost in thought during my trip home. And of course, sometimes I am exhausted.

Maybe it's time to tuck in a little early, for our health. My favorite television shows can wait for me on my DVR. That last load of clothes can sit on the dining room table for another day and I'll mop tomorrow. Tonight, I sleep! (Or at least that's the plan.)

How much sleep do you average per night? How much sleep would you like to average (in a perfect world)?