No doubt you’ve been jolted awake with that dreadful 2 am call. You fumble for the phone, introduce yourself as professionally as you can with marbles in your mouth, and hear: “Hey, how do you tell if a dog is a boy or a girl?” Or worse, you lug yourself to the clinic for the frantic client who’s a no-show, and you’re left fuming and utterly incapable of falling back to sleep.
It’s no secret that many veterinarians suffer work-life imbalance—and sleep deprivation is a major contributor.
How much sleep do you need?
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7 to 9 hours of sleep per day, a near impossibility for most veterinary practitioners. But those numbers are only half the story. What the body truly requires is restorative sleep, during which the brain cycles through all the sleep stages (1, 2, 3, 4, and REM) several times over. The magic happens during deep sleep (stages 3 and 4), which is rejuvenating and prepares you well for a day of challenges.
In each 8-hour period of continuous, healthy sleep, the body will ultimately compile 1 to 2 hours of deep sleep.1 Any interruption diminishes the body’s ability to function properly, with unhealthy alterations in hormone production, immune system regulation, and brain activity.
What exactly goes wrong?
When we don’t get enough sleep, the brain moves less learned information from the hippocampus to the neocortex, resulting in decreased memory processing and retention.2,3 In addition to diminished mental capacity (which was implicated in both the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Chernobyl nuclear explosion2), sleep deprivation causes a host of physical abnormalities3:
- The stomach produces more of the gastric peptide ghrelin (an appetite stimulant) and less leptin (a satiety hormone), increasing appetite and cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods once awake.
- The pancreas releases higher levels of insulin after eating, overloading your fat storage and increasing your risk for type 2 diabetes.
- The pituitary gland releases fewer growth hormones, thus inhibiting the body’s ability to repair tissue, increase muscle mass, thicken skin, and strengthen bone.
- The adrenal glands produce more cortisol, increasing blood pressure and your risk for heart attack and death. Increased cortisol also breaks down skin collagen so you don’t look your best (let’s get practical here).
- The body clears fewer circulating inflammatory cells and produces fewer natural killer cells and protective cytokines that aid in immune function.
Lack of sleep has long-term effects as well. Over the years, various studies on sleep deprivation (generally defined as 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night) have found that it4:
- increases the risk for dementia by 33%
- doubles the risk for death from any cause
