By Rose Bedassie, Wellness Consultant & Health Coach, Thornhill

As many of us already know and are used to some level of sleep deprivation, what is most important to understand is the symptoms to make us become aware if this is truly an issue or not for us personally. We are in a stage in time where we MUST understand that some things are standard and fit virtually everyone, and yet some things absolutely DO NOT fit for everyone. Bio hacking has proved that in our wonderful make up there are parts of us engineered in the womb so intricately that cannot be easily understood or duplicated.

Sleep for example, has ranges of 6-8 hours for most adults that are not symptomatic of deprivation but, now as I put on my Human Resources hat on I remember that we had a shift from absenteeism in the workplace to Presenteeism. Absenteeism is and always will bring productivity down, and has been historically studied and understood, but what about the effect of Presenteeism?

Presenteeism is in my opinion much worse. The working “sick” population has increased and has been either medically diagnosed and prescribed a sleep pill, psychologically diagnosed or is self-medicating. Which one are you? The reality is that we have snuffed out that inner voice that tells us that there is something missing. That something missing is really just a few more hours of downtime that leads to SLEEP.

Over the last 7 years I have defeated depression by becoming mindful of the following: Medication does not fix the problems we have they simply provide us time to figure out what is really going on inside. Exercise helps me to release enough good “happy hormones” in to my bloodstream to defeat those haunting thoughts of overwhelm and that both of those things I can render useless if I don’t get proper sleep to make them culminate.

However, it seems that reducing stress for some of us is as challenging, just as challenging as the Ketosis inducing diet can be for a Dr. Poon patient. We are addicted to stress. As a result we are sleep deprived and swearing we aren’t. The sad story goes on to lead to headaches, sleep aids and Sleep Apnea.

The fact is simply what someone with Presenteeism can do in 8 hours is in comparison to what another more healthy person can do in 6 with proper sleep, diet and exercise is a wide gap. Bottom line is that healthy people are just faster, stronger, decisive and more effective than the working “sick”.This proves that as we become more knowledgeable we forget the basics. Confirming an absolute truth that: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a new result”. (A. Einstein)

If we adopt this understanding we may be able to better show our patients the reason they can get the “to-do” list done, but at what the real cost is to their hormonal and performance health? I wish we could show them a picture of what they would look like in 5, 10 or 15 years if they keep up the same routine. I bet you the long work hours, short vacations, short sleep hours, obesity, sagging skin, unforgiveness and emotional problems would be prevented if we could show that picture.

My mandate over the last 15 years in this industry is to show anyone who will listen how to add years to their life and life to their years” (quote by David Rouhi )

So take the test:

1. Once you are up and around do you feel refreshed? Y/N
2. Do you rise in the morning/ at your set wake up time without an alarm? Y/N
3. Do you feel like you NEED a nap each day? Y/N

If it is a “YES” to all – your sleep deprived. Now what? Once life gets stressful often times sleep is the first thing that gets let go. With that reality also comes the side effects of continued sleep deprivation, performance and emotions. Be honest with yourself before it’s too late.