Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury. It determines the quality of our waking life. If you are getting less than the right amount of sleep for your mind and body to perform well during the day, you are sleep deprived. For most people, the right amount of sleep is eight hours per night.

According to experts 70% of the population is sleep deprived. We're not spending quality time in the important stages of deep sleep. These stages are essential to heal and repair the human body, as well as the mind, for peak performance the next day. You need to stop depriving yourself of the quality sleep you need, and you'll wake up refreshed and rejuvenated.

• Need an alarm clock to wake up?
• Struggle to get out of bed in the morning?
• Hit the snooze button weekday mornings?
• Tired, irritable and stressed out at work?
• Trouble concentrating and remembering?
• Slow critical thinking, problem solving, creativity?
• Often fall asleep watching TV?
• Fall asleep in boring meetings, lectures, warm rooms?
• Fall asleep after heavy meals or low doses of alcohol?
• Often fall asleep when relaxing after dinner?
• Fall asleep within 5 minutes of going to bed?
• Often feel drowsy when driving?
• Sleep extra hours on weekend mornings?
• Often need a nap to get through the day?

Not getting an adequate amount of sleep can lead to cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. If you average less than 6 hours of sleep per night, your resistance to viral infection is lowered by about 50% over those getting 8 or more hours. Expect more colds and flu and respiratory tract infections. Luckily, the process is quickly reversible. Even if you didn't get enough sleep on a given night, the immune system will be back in action as soon as you repay that sleep.

Your body goes through cycles of sleep every night. During each cycle, the time you spend in each of the 4 stages of sleep changes. This cycle repeats itself every 90 minutes until you wake up. Depending on the length of time you sleep, you will travel through four to five cycles during the night. Sleep becomes lighter as we approach morning and dreams become longer. During the last quartile of an 8-hour night, Stages 2 sleep and REM or Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, wherein most dreams occur predominate. These stages play a major role in organizing and reorganizing the mind, concentration, mood, productivity, creativity and critical problem solving, and athletic ability.

When it comes to sleep, quantity and quality are important. Remember that you should spend 1/3 of your life asleep. It's vital you make the most of it. Sleep experts agree: Most people need 8 hours of sleep, but even 6 hours of continuous sleep is more restorative than 8 hours of interrupted sleep. So stop depriving yourself and get some rest.

Sleep is necessary for our bodies to build up energy reserves and regenerate body cells and tissues. During sleep, your heartbeat and breathing slow, growth hormones peak, muscles relax, and your body temperature lowers. Sleep is a sophisticated process carefully regulated by our brain with valuable restorative properties for our physical and mental health.

Short-term sleep deprivation usually causes little physical harm, since the body compensates for the lack of sleep by increasing its adrenaline levels during the day. A person may experience temporary feelings of pessimism or negativity. However, even short-term sleep deprivation can be dangerous if driving a car or operating machinery. Sleep deprivation is thought to cause half of all traffic fatalities on U.S. highways. In fact, studies have shown that being forced to stay awake 17 to 19 hours can cause the same impaired abilities as having a 0.05 percent blood alcohol content.

Irregular sleep patterns and lack of sleep can bring on short attention span, memory and vocabulary loss, and other symptoms. Complication can include obesity, premature aging, fatigue and increased risk for diabetes, infection, cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal disease. Chronic sleep deprivation can even lead to paranoia or hallucinations.