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I'm in AP psychology and this chapter we're studying right now is on "Sleeping, Dreams, and Drugs". We quite frequently watch movies, and a recent one on sleeping caught my attention. The educated narrator guy said that more and more often in this world there seems to be this pride people have in how many hours of sleep they DIDN'T get. How often do you hear people saying they "only got 4 hours of sleep last night," or that they pulled an "all-nighter"? It's like they have to have SOME reward for depriving their bodies of sleep. So they get the glory and recognition and "Oooo's" and "Ahhh's." Yeah well big whoop. The educated narrator said that as people start pulling away from normal and needed sleeping hours, the affects spread far beyond what we see. Our sleeplessness can cause accidents, cause increased irritability, cause us to become more forgetful, and cause us to become dependent on energy boosters (Coffee, Diet Cokes, and 5 Hour Energy shots) that are not healthy for our bodies. Sleep deprivation drecreases our ability to function properly and fight off viruses (swine flu, anyone??). In our world, we are continually asked to run faster, jump higher. And as we try to run faster and jump higher than we did the day before, we just need more time. So what gets cut out? Sleep, naturally. Or maybe, not so naturally. Studies are showing that as we start to become more dependent on technology, we bring it into our bedrooms, and when we bring it into our bedrooms, our psyche doesn't classify our bed as somewhere to solely rest and rejuvinate. It's a place to also text, watch T.V. or use our lap tops. Being in this mindset keeps us from falling into a restful sleep, even when we want to. Sleep is not so "natural" anymore. We move away from what our bodies naturally expect in a sleeping environment, into a virtual world where we can talk to someone in Thailand with a click of a mouse. It cannot be good, turning our rooms from dark quiet sanctuaries into unearthly blue-glowing technology labs. That's a little extreme, I know, but as we continue to not sleep, as a nation we will start to turn into zombies, the living dead. And no one will think anything of it until a few of us start to drop dead while walking down the street, eyes red, complextions pale. So let's all prioritize a little better, do our associates a favor, and find time to sleep. Maybe that and some Vitamin C will take the place of getting an H1N1 shot.