What is Festival of Sleep Day and when is it?

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. According to the Sleep Foundation, a lack of sleep has been associated with a wide range of negative health consequences for adults, including cardiovascular problems, a weakened immune system, a higher risk of obesity and type II diabetes, impaired thinking and memory, and mental health problems like depression and anxiety. “If you’re not getting sufficient sleep, you’re not getting that reboot of the cardiovascular system, so your blood pressure rises,” Matthew Walker, author of the 2017 book Why We Sleep and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, said. “We know that after you’ve been awake for 19 or 20 hours, your mental capacity is so impaired that you would be as deficient as someone who was legally drunk behind the wheel of a car.” open image in gallery It’s estimated that two-thirds of adults around the world aren’t getting enough sleep Walker states that the “recycle rate of a human being” appears to be about 16 hours, explaining: “We need about eight hours of sleep to repair the damage of wakefulness.” Festival of Sleep Day, however, isn’t just about understanding the health benefits of sleep, it is also a celebration of the activity itself. As the modern world demands more from our schedules, Festival of Sleep Day reminds people that sleep isn’t lazy, it’s actually essential to our well-being.