European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine. Sack time is. Slack time How lost sleep affects the mind one theory holds that sleep repairs the cerebral cortex after Quot the Wear and tear of  new studies indicate that sleeplessness can quickly impair creative thinking. . Night lost divergent thinking involving spontaneity flexibility and originality is Hurt but less creative endeavours like practice responses to known challenges Are relatively unaffected. Nights lost serious impairment of convergent thinking appears. Tasks like multiple Choice tests drawing up a balance Sheet or dealing with a Well defined emergency become harder. Not More americans under sleep than overeat by William Kates associated press americans 24-hour on the go lifestyle is turning it into a nation of Quot walking zombies who sacrifice sleep to keep up warns a Cornell University researcher in Ithaca . More than 100 million americans work and play with insufficient sleep a nearly every other adult and teen Ager. In addition to damaging an individuals psychological and physical Well being sleep deprivation costs the United states billions of dollars a year in lost productivity and medical costs said James Maas chairman of Cornellus psychology department. Nearly half of All americans Short themselves of one to two hours of sleep per night. By weeks end its As if they a missed a full night. Quot if you lose two hours of sleep because you go to a party on saturday night and then for the next five or six Days you get your Normal sleep which for most people is inadequate. By Friday you Are like the narcoleptic Quot said Maas an award winning producer of sleep Alert a documentary broadcast recently on Public television and underwritten by North Chicago based Abbott laboratories. Quot there Are some people who Are literally walking zombies. If you need an alarm clock to get up in the morning or if you feel More than a minor Sag in the Middle of the Day you need More  Maas said he sleeps 71/4 hours a night but is trying to get eight hours. Quot i be been so Busy with this program that i m not getting As much sleep As i should be right now. But in be at least regulated my sleeping habits by making sure in a in bed every night by the same time Midnight Quot Quot More americans under sleep than overeat Quot said or. Thomas Roth director of the sleep disorders research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Quot there is very Little question the Impact of sleepiness is great Quot he said. Quot How Many air planes have to crash because the Pilot Falls asleep How Many nuclear plants have to shut Down because the operator Falls asleep Quot about 20 million americans have work schedules that include night shifts and surveys indicate 55 percent of them nod off at least once a week says psychologist Richard Coleman a sleep expert in the film. Quot these people Are not falling asleep on Breaks not lying Down on the Job. They re trying to work Quot said Coleman who Heads a shift work operations consulting firm in Ross Calif. Quot three mile Island happened at 4 a.m., chernobyl at 2 a.m., Bhopal at Midnight the Exxon Valdez at around Midnight a he Points out. Charles Czeisler director for circadian and sleep disorder Medicine at Boston s Brigham and women a Hospital said part of the problem is that shift workers generally Are rotated to the earlier hours opposite of the body a biological clock and they Are switched Back and Forth too frequently to allow them to adjust. An Institute study at one Plant using a rotating shift schedule found that accidents increased significantly during the final two hours of a shift and were 40 percent greater at night than in the daytime he said. Maas documentary looks at How sleepiness affects the judgment and reaction time of pilots policemen and medical interns. One doctor says she measured sleep in minutes when she worked As an intern while a retired commercial airline Pilot recalls a flight when he awoke from a 10-minute Nap to find the Captain and flight Engineer also dozing. The consequences of sleepiness loss of initiative and Energy attention lapses distract ability and fatigue a and mistakes or. William Dement director of the sleep disorders Center at the Stanford University school of Medicine said on mass documentary. The Institute for circadian physiology a research Center in Boston has reported that sleeping problems at work Cost companies $70 billion annually in lost productivity Industrial accidents and medical Bills. Maas said researchers report that after five years people who work night shifts Are twice As prone to heart ailments and gastrointestinal diseases than those who work Day hours. Quot there s even evidence that people getting inadequate sleep shorten their life Span by eight to 10  researchers have fashioned a test called the multiple sleep latency test to measure sleepiness said Roth. It is based on the premise that the faster people fall asleep the More sleepy they Are. At two hour intervals the subject is asked to spend 20 minutes in a quiet bedroom trying to fall asleep. Ten year Olds who Are fully Alert All Day never fall asleep while narcoleptic Are asleep within five minutes on every occasion Roth said. High school students often fall asleep As regularly and As fast As the narcoleptic he said. Maas said studies show High school seniors get an average of 6.1 hours of sleep a Day but need about 10 hours to function most effectively. As Many As 30 percent of High school students fall asleep in class once a week according to some studies he said. While it is True children and teen agers need More sleep than adults it is a myth that As we grow older we need less sleep. A typical adult should sleep eight to 8v2 hours a Day said Maas. Quot there Are no easy answers. People say when am i going to play Golf or when am i going to do this or that. Parents and two career couples have household duties and child rearing duties they want some Leisure time. So what do they Cut out they Cut out sleep  an ability to Lead a fast paced life on Little sleep is a trait perpetuated in the United states by our around the clock society with its All night shopping centers Cable television and 24-hour banking said Roth. Quot in our society sleep restriction is seen As a positive  society needs to rethink How it equates naps and staying in bed late with laziness. We should be just As concerned about sleeping patterns As we Are about diet and  saturday March 31,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 13