Since this rotation started, I've been feeling like the narcoleptic Argentinian in Moulin Rouge:
I take "smile and nod" to the extreme, if you know what I mean.
I know sleep is incredibly important for your health, and I think it's the one thing many of us (hand raised here) are missing. The first 2 years of med school, I got tons of sleep. Third year has been different, as I've been scrambling to fit everything into 4-5 hours at night that I used to have 8-9 hours (or more!) to do.
Detriments of sleep per WebMD:
- Decreased Performance and Alertness: Sleep deprivation induces significant reductions in performance and alertness. Reducing your nighttime sleep by as little as one and a half hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32%. CHECK
- Memory and Cognitive Impairment: Decreased alertness and excessive daytime sleepiness impair your memory and your cognitive ability -- your ability to think and process information. CHECK
- Stress Relationships: Disruption of a bed partner's sleep due to a sleep disorder may cause significant problems for the relationship (for example, separate bedrooms, conflicts, moodiness, etc.).
- Poor Quality of Life: You might, for example, be unable to participate in certain activities that require sustained attention, like going to the movies, seeing your child in a school play, or watching a favorite TV show. CHECK (I can't stay awake to watch tv/movies to save my life, or read for a long period of time without nodding off)
- Occupational Injury: Excessive sleepiness also contributes to a greater than twofold higher risk of sustaining an occupational injury (not yet!)
- Automobile Injury: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates conservatively that each year drowsy driving is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities. (I had an accident last year, 2/2 snow though)
How much sleep do you get each night? Do you nap?
Off to bed :-)