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Josiah Daniels

Feb. 24, 2011

Sleep Diana Gant

The Importance of Sleep and How to Get It

            Have you ever wondered how much how much sleep you need a day and how to get that sleep? Diana Gant has the answer.

Gant is regarded as a national leader on the study of sleep. She is also a part of the psychology faculty at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

            Gant claims that people need nine to 10 hours of sleep a night. When asked why some people say you only need seven to eight or four to five, Gant replied, “I know not everyone agrees with me, but that’s what I keep finding.” In a laboratory study Gant conducted, she found that when people got the chance to sleep, they typically slept for about nine hours.

            Gant claims that not getting enough sleep can be a serious detriment not only to you, but to society as well. Gant has done some research on the number of traffic accidents that occur after daylight savings in the spring when people loose an hour. “There’s an eight percent increase in accidents the day after the time change, and there’s a corresponding decrease in accidents in the fall when people gain an extra hour of sleep,” Gant stated. Gant also said that a lack of sleep contributed, in some way, to some major disasters including the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Russia’s Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. Gant even says that sleep may have caused them instead of simply contributing to them. She also states that not getting enough sleep could lead to depression.

            Some things that a person could do to get more sleep, Gant says, includes:

-         Sleep in a dark and quiet area.

-         Relax for an hour before you go to bed.

-         Don’t eat or drink too much before you go to bed.

-         Don’t consume alcohol, tobacco, or coffee before you go to bed.

-         Don’t eat foods with high sugar content before you go to bed.

Gant also believes people aren’t getting enough sleep because of their perception of sleep. According to Gant, “some people think that going without sleep is the big, sophisticated, macho thing to do. They figure they don’t need it, that the rules don’t apply to them, that they can get more done.”

            You should be able to tell if you are not getting enough sleep if you have trouble staying awake after large meals at lunchtime, or even at the intersection, Gant claims.