Welcome to Kara Schmidt, PA and Registered Dietician for Infant Child & Adolescent Neurology

Why Can't We Sleep?
By Laura Fitzpatrick

Staring at the clock's blinking red lights, tossing and turning until the sheets are tied in knots — some 40 million Americans are all too familiar with what a chronic sleep disorder feels like. In a quest to understand her own insomnia, journalist Patricia Morrisroe traveled from Las Vegas to north of the Arctic Circle and chronicled what she found in a new book, Wide Awake. Morrisroe talked to TIME about how sleep has evolved, how ancient Greeks went to sleep and why we need our z's.

So what happens to the body when it doesn't get enough sleep?
It depends on the amount of sleep you're getting. Researchers talk about impaired concentration and memory. Of the people who have gone on these long sleep-deprivation jags, one became a drifter and lost his wife and job. Another person [who set the Guinness World Record for sleep deprivation in 1965 with 264 hours, or more than 11 days awake] seemed to do quite well.

Read the rest of the article here.