Sleep is so vital to your healthy immune system that it is very important to get at least eight or nine hours of sleep a night, or more.  Quality of sleep is important, too.  If you cannot sleep and stay asleep, you do not need drugs in your system to accomplish it. 

The dangers of lack of sleep include:

• Poor health
• Inability to concentrate
• Danger on the road while driving
• Social problems
• Lack of energy
• Eating too much in an attempt to regain energy
• Weight gain
• Crankiness, irritability
• Constant illness
• Accelerates aging
• Memory loss

One way to make sure you get to sleep quickly, and stay asleep, is to get enough exercise. Many people are amazed how well this works.  We all sit at our desks and computers all day, and feel exhausted when we come home.  This is mainly due to mental exhaustion, rather than physical.  Then we wonder why we cannot "wind down" and get to sleep when bedtime comes.  A group of people tried this experiment, and ran an average of 15-20 miles a week, and began sleeping much better, and waking up invigorated for the start of the day. 

During sleep-deprivation, researchers found the men's blood sugar levels took 40% longer to drop following a high-carbohydrate meal, compared with the sleep-recovery period. Their ability to secrete and respond to the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar, dropped by 30%. These changes echo the effects of insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. In addition, the sleep-deprived men had higher night-time concentrations of the hormone cortisol, which also helps regulate blood sugar, and lower levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone. These raised cortisol levels mimic levels that are often seen in older people, and may be involved in age-related insulin resistance and memory loss.

A glass of milk before bedtime also helps, because there is tryptophan in milk that aids in sleep.

If you smoke, or drink alcohol, these will also contribute to loss of sleep, and loss of quality of sleep.  Alcohol may relax a person initially, but in the long run it disrupts the normal sleeping patterns.

Foods with tryptophan:

• Milk
• Cheese
• Curd
• Potato
• Wheat
• Seafood
• Beans
• Sesame Seed
• Oatmeal
• Apricots
• Bananas

Eating healthy foods has multiple benefits.

Recent studies have shown an increase in diabetes amongst people who get less than seven hours of sleep each night.

Some people may not need more than eight hours of sleep, and get along fine with that.  Other people may need more.  Each of us needs to evaluate how much sleep we do best, and stick with that amount as much as possible.