Lives are busier than ever! “According to a study by the American Psychological Association, 18 to 35 year olds are the most stressed out generation ever—earning ourselves the nickname “Generation Stress.”” - https://relevantmagazine.com/life/millennials-are-most-stressed-out-generation-and-s-spiritual-problem “stress is caused by three primary factors—money, work, and the economy” -  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-15/americans-just-broke-the-psychologists-stress-record

Stress on its own will kill you, mentally if not physically. However, part of stress (at least for me) is not having enough time in the day. A solution often used is to reduce sleep to get everything done, allowing us to relax. The problem with this is how sleep affects the body.

“Sleep deprivation actually causes the brain to feed off of neurons and synaptic connections“ - http://nypost.com/2017/05/30/the-brain-literally-eats-itself-when-its-overtired-study/
“Your body needs sleep, just as it needs air and food to function at its best. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Your brain forges new connections and helps memory retention. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally. It can also dramatically lower your quality of life. A review of 16 studies found that sleeping for less than 6 to 8 hours a night increases the risk of early death by about 12 percent.” - https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body
“If sleep deprivation continues long enough, you could start having hallucinations—seeing or hearing things that aren’t there. A lack of sleep can also trigger mania in people who have manic depression.“ Which I have experienced. More than once I have gone 3 days without sleeping and the most I have gone is 4.

From this research, I have learned I need to make a change to my sleeping habits or it might actually kill me. Another factor is, sleeping statistically also makes you more productive making any excuses for not sleeping irrelevant.