Living in LA, I sometimes wonder how many hours people here actually sleep.

From morning, the freeway is like a parking lot, and after working all day, suddenly it's evening.

On the way home, stuck in traffic again, I waste an hour, and by the time I get home, I'm already exhausted.

But I don't just go to bed right away. I have to make dinner, do the dishes, and do laundry.

Then, while sitting on the couch scrolling through my phone, I realize, oh my, it's already midnight.

I swear I only meant to look for 10 minutes, but where did those two hours go? Haha.

These days, if I skimp on sleep for just one day, I feel terrible the next day. My head is foggy, my eyes are dry, and if someone asks me something trivial, I get annoyed for no reason.

Did you know that the time a person spends sleeping accounts for one-third of their life?

If you live to be 90, that means you spend a whopping 30 years sleeping.

30 years is enough time to raise a child and send them off to marry, yet we spend all that time sleeping, which is quite fascinating.

What's even funnier is that we take such an important thing as sleep so lightly.

We buy a ton of supplements, seek out expensive organic food, and even get gym memberships, yet we only sleep five hours a night.

I'm not in a position to judge others either. Haha.

It turns out that while we sleep, our bodies aren't just resting.

Our brains organize the day's events, store memories, regulate immune functions, and help recover various parts of our bodies.

So even while we snore, our bodies are working overtime. Haha.

What's more surprising is that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain.

There's a hormone called leptin that regulates appetite and another called ghrelin that makes us feel hungry, and when we don't get enough sleep, this balance can be disrupted.

No wonder I feel hungry at 11 PM.

I definitely had dinner, but I find myself opening and closing the fridge, and even though there's nothing to eat, I pull out a slice of cheese or open a bag of chips.

It's a bit comforting to know that it's not just because I have a big appetite. Of course, that doesn't mean I can eat ramen every night. Haha.

Living with a lack of sleep for a long time increases the risk of diseases like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

At this point, it might be better for my health to skip an extra hour at the gym and just go to bed an hour earlier.

Drowsy driving is as dangerous as drunk driving; it's not just someone else's problem in LA

For those living in LA, you know that living here without a car is really tough.

Especially if you get caught on the 405 or 10 freeways during rush hour, it's maddening.

The car isn't moving, the heater or air conditioning is just right, and soft music plays on the radio.

Isn't it strange if you don't feel sleepy in that situation?

But if you're severely sleep-deprived, your judgment and reaction times can drop to a level that's as dangerous as drunk driving.

It's a scary thought when you think about it.

In the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, crew fatigue was cited as a significant factor.

The Chernobyl disaster and the Challenger explosion were also major tragedies tied to human judgment and safety management issues.

While we can't simply blame these accidents on drowsiness, it's important to consider how dangerous it is to make critical decisions when you're fatigued.

I now believe that if I feel really sleepy while driving, it's better to pull over in a safe place and rest rather than trying to tough it out with coffee.

There's no need to risk my life just to get home a few minutes earlier.

I thought snoring was just due to tiredness, but it's more than that

Another thing to be aware of is sleep apnea.

You know those people who snore really loudly? It's maddening for anyone sleeping next to them. Haha.

But sometimes they seem to stop breathing suddenly while snoring. If this happens repeatedly, you should suspect sleep apnea.

If you sleep all night but still feel tired in the morning, feel drowsy during the day, and even have headaches, it's a good idea to get tested.

Sleep apnea is linked to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, so it shouldn't be dismissed as just a sleeping habit.

The same goes for insomnia.

Everyone experiences a night or two of poor sleep, but if you can't sleep properly for months, it can make daily life really difficult.

Worrying about not being able to sleep can ironically make it even harder to fall asleep; the human body is quite complex.

These days, I'm most concerned about the light in my bedroom

I used to think it was fine to sleep with a small light on in the bedroom.

But recently, I found out that exposure to light at night can affect the secretion of melatonin, a sleep-related hormone, and our biological clock.

Especially, it's not good to stare at your phone screen for a long time before bed.

So nowadays, I try to close the curtains tightly and make my room as dark as possible before sleeping.

Of course, having a very dim nightlight isn't necessarily bad for health; you need some light to avoid tripping when going to the bathroom at night.

The problem is with the phone. I mean, I only meant to check Instagram for 5 minutes, but why do I find that 40 minutes have passed?

Before I know it, it's 1 AM after looking at other people's dogs, checking out Korean restaurants, and catching up on celebrity news.

Then the next morning, I complain about being tired, and that's totally me. It's quite hopeless. Haha.

Adults are generally recommended to sleep about 7 to 9 hours a night. Of course, the amount of sleep needed can vary from person to person.

When I was younger, I felt like sleeping was such a waste of time. I thought I should be doing something else during that time, and going to bed early felt like losing a day.

But now that I'm 44, my perspective has completely changed.

Now, I feel like living with less sleep is actually a loss.

Expensive supplements are great, and exercise is good, but I need to prioritize getting proper sleep every night.

Spending one-third of my life sleeping initially seemed like a waste, but upon reflection, it's not that way at all.

I'm sleeping that much to live the remaining two-thirds of my life healthily.

But if I keep talking about how important sleep is and then stay up late with my phone tonight, that would be truly hopeless, right?