But the national sleep debt is another story, according to Cornell psychologist and sleep expert James Maas. We've become a nation of walking zombies. The professor of psychology in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences defines sleep debt as the difference between the hours of restorative rest people need for optimal physical and mental well-being and the number of hours they actually get. At any given time, the American sleep debt totals nearly half a billion hours or close to two hours every night for the average American. Any one of those sleep-debt zombies can kill you or hurt in other ways.
Adequate sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise.
REM sleep occurs about every 90 minutes, and the periods of REM sleep get longer as the night progresses. If you're a six-hour sleeper, you're missing that last, important opportunity to repair and to prepare for the coming day. Hoping to reach those who missed his award-winning documentaries on public television, the sleep seminars and keynote addresses for corporations or his introductory psychology class at Cornell, Maas now has compiled his findings and advice in a new book, Power Sleep . For his part, a well-rested Maas steers alertly through a world of zombies. And in return for the knowledge, Cornell students act as survey subjects.