When you go to sleep, your body goes to work
The mind and body do not shut down during sleep. Sleep allows the brain to consolidate the day’s learning into memory and improves the ability to learn repetitive skills, such as riding a bike or working on a computer. During sleep, the body does maintenance work- replacing old cells with new ones and reenergizing organs and muscles.

The "work" that sleep does during the night is vital for you to function optimally during the day. Getting the amount of sleep you need and getting a combination of light and deep sleep allow the most restorative benefit.

Sleeplessness adds up to a sleep debt
Sleep loss that accumulates from one night to the next is known as a "sleep debt" or sleep deprivation. Even a modest loss of sleep may produce a serious sleep debt when sustained over several nights. The only way to reduce this debt is to get the amount of sleep your body needs.

The consequences of poor sleep or lack of sleep can have severe daytime consequences:

Automobile and job-related accidents, tiredness, irritability, loss of memory, and cataclysmic accidents, such as the Exxon Valdez or Chernobyl nuclear disasters, can be traced in some part to lack of sleep.

Fragmented sleep can be as devastating as no sleep. -- Dr. William C. Dement, Stanford University, Sleep Research Center.

Two-thirds of American adults report a sleep-related problem.--National Sleep Foundation

Some people show great bravado about getting a job done on little sleep or brag having trouble sleeping, claiming their work proves they didn’t need the rest anyway. Yet the truth is that fatigue is dangerous. America’s sleep problems have reached epidemic proportions, and may be the country’s number one health problem.--CNN Health Story Page

By the year 2010, nearly 40 million Americans will experience debilitating excessive daytime sleepiness, and an estimated 79 million Americans will have difficulty falling asleep.--Census Bureau Statistics

On any given day a substantial number of Americans, perhaps the majority, are functionally handicapped by sleep deprivation.-- National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research 

Researchers suspect one reason heart attacks occur more frequently in the morning is that a night of tossing and turning can lead to a significant surge of blood pressure the next morning.-- Time Magazine

In today’s fast-paced world we are sleep deprived. We’ve cut back on the hours we sleep to provide more time for work, family and leisure. 

Most adults get less sleep than they need. Nearly one in three Americans sleeps as little as six hours or less per night during the work week.-- National Sleep Foundation

Sleep deprivation is estimated to cost $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity. -- The National Commission on Sleep Disorders

Sleep is important to our emotional and physical well being. People who get six or less hours of sleep a night have a 70 percent higher mortality rate. -- California Department of Health

Americans have reduced their average nightly sleep time by more than 20 percent over the past century. -- National Commission of Sleep Disorders

The more sleep lost each day, the greater the sleep debt and the larger the impairment.-- National Commission of Sleep Disorders

Healthy sleep is the quantity and quality of sleep required to maintain optimal alertness during desired waking hours.

Good sleep habits and a restful sleep environment plays an important role in how well you sleep. You can sleep better by creating a comfortable place to sleep.

Is your bedroom a good place to sleep?
Your sleep environment serves as the bases for a good night’s sleep. Noise, light and uncomfortable or worn-out mattress and foundation or a room that’s too warm or too cold can set you up for poor sleep.

The four factors of the sleep environment
You can make your sleep environment more conducive for restful sleep by checking these factors:

MATTRESS AND FOUNDATION   Be sure your mattress and foundation meet your needs for ideal support and comfort. If you sleep with a partner, your mattress should allow you both enough space to move easily during the night.

LIGHT   Light is one of our body’s most powerful time cues. The rising sun can stimulate the brain into wakefulness long before the alarm goes off. A dark room is the most conducive for sleep, day or night.

NOISE   Sudden, loud noises from inside or outside the home can disrupt sleep. Steady, low sounds like the whir of a fan or air conditioner are soothing because they block out other noises.

TEMPERATURE   The ideal bedroom temperature is 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit or 16 to 18 degrees Celcius. A room that’s too hot or too cold can disturb your sleep.

1 KEEP REGULAR HOURS.   Keep your bilolgical clock in sync by going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning -- even on weekends.

2 DEVELOP A SLEEP RITUAL. Doing the same things each night just before bed cues your body to settle down for the night.

3 SLEEP ON A COMFORTABLE, SUPPORTIVE MATTRESS AND FOUNDATION.  It’s difficult to get deep, restful sleep on a sleep set that’s too small, too soft, too hard or too old.

4 EXERCISE REGULARLY. Regular exercise can help to relieve the day’s tension-- but not too close to bedtime or you may have a hard time falling asleep.

5 CUT DOWN ON STIMULANTS. Consuming stimulants, such as caffeine, in the evening interferes with falling asleep and prevents deep sleep.

6 DON’T SMOKE. Smokers take longer to fall asleep, awaken more often and experience disrupted, fragmented sleep.

7 DRINK ONLY IN MODERATION. Drinking alcohol shortly before bedtime interrupts and fragments sleep.

8 UNWIND EARLY IN THE EVENING. Try to deal with worries and distractions several hours before going to bed.

9 CREATE A RESTFUL SLEEP ENVIRONMENT.  Sleep in a cool, quiet, dark room on a comfortable, supportive mattress and foundation.

10 MAKE SLEEP A PRIORITY. Say "yes" to sleep even when you’re tempted to stay up late. You’ll thank yourself in the morning.