Sean Streicher had a sleep study done at SleepWaves at PRMC. After he arrived, Linda Hurley, Director of the sleep center, had Sean do a memory and reaction test and they reviewed how he did after a full nights sleep. Then, Sean stayed up all night and took the same tests the next morning. He scored worse after being sleep deprived for over 24 hours.

Linda says that you are impaired when you are sleep deprived. Your reaction time dramatically decreases and it could be dangerous when operating a vehicle. CDC contributes 5,000-6,000 car crashes to drowsy drivers.

The average adult should get between 7-9 hours of sleep each night so that the body can rest, heal, and store energy. Our bodies pay the price when we are sleep deprived with poor judgement, slow reaction time, more emotional, memory is worse, and learning is harder. Long term sleep deprivation could cause serious issues such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, early Alzheimer’s, and even increase the risk of stroke.