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The Benefits of Sleep

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General Surgery Residency Survival Guide

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Abstract

Sleep is a metabolically active state that is essential for health and well-being. Although it is a universal process, little emphasis is placed on its importance and benefits. Not only is sleep helpful for rest and restoration, but other benefits include memory consolidation, improved task performance, alertness, productivity, better quality of life, enhanced mental health, as well as many other health benefits. For too long, sleep has been portrayed as a lazy or useless pastime, especially in fast-paced working environments. Many careers, including those in healthcare and medicine, forcibly interfere with our daily sleep schedules, and the cumulative effects of sleep deficiency and deprivation can be devastating. This book chapter studies the science of sleep, helps us determine our ideal sleep cycles, reviews the benefits of good sleep hygiene, assesses the disadvantages of sleep deprivation, and discusses ways to mitigate sleep deprivation to boost productivity and overall well-being.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE, USA

    Madelyn Hernandez

Authors
  1. Madelyn Hernandez
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Correspondence to Madelyn Hernandez .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care and Acute Care Surgery, Christiana Care Health System, Newark, DE, USA

    Asanthi Ratnasekera

  2. Center for Surgical Weight Loss, Jefferson Health of New Jersey, Cherry Hill, NJ, USA

    Marc Neff

  3. Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, NJ, USA

    Kahyun Yoon-Flannery

  4. Jefferson Comprehensive Weight Management, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Alec Beekley

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Hernandez, M. (2023). The Benefits of Sleep. In: Ratnasekera, A., Neff, M., Yoon-Flannery, K., Beekley, A. (eds) General Surgery Residency Survival Guide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25617-2_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25617-2_39

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25616-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25617-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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