Prime Minister Kulbergs sleeps three hours a night: what experts say
The wife of Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has said he sleeps about three hours a night because of his heavy workload. A cardiologist and a psychologist say such short sleep harms health and decision-making in the long run.
Anna Kulberga, the wife of Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, has said publicly that the head of government sleeps roughly three hours a night because of intense work. The magazine Kas Jauns asked specialists whether such a short sleep is enough to recover and work productively, and what regular lack of sleep does to health.
The cardiologist's view
Cardiologist Andrejs Ērglis, a professor at the University of Latvia's Faculty of Medicine, says sleep needs vary by age, life stage and profession. Doctors, soldiers and firefighters often have to sleep little, but in his words this is not healthy. He believes that at any age people should devote six to eight hours to sleep. Ērglis also notes that sleep is listed as a risk factor in European and international guidelines on cardiovascular and mental health. A lack of sleep can be offset briefly, but not in the long term, and sometimes it is better to "invest in sleep" in order to work more rationally later.
The psychologist's explanation
Marija Ābeltiņa, a doctor of science in psychology who earned her doctorate researching professional burnout, acknowledges that life sometimes leaves only three hours for sleep. If it happens rarely, the consequences are not very negative, but as a regular lifestyle it inevitably affects health. She stresses that adults need at least seven to eight hours, while a small share of people are short sleepers who usually manage on five or six. She has not heard of anyone needing only three.
Äbeltiņa says that sleeping just six hours leads to accumulated fatigue within two weeks and worse work and thinking performance. People often do not notice this themselves, but relatives or colleagues do. She cites studies showing that after a day without sleep, or after only a couple of hours, performance in driving tests resembles a blood alcohol level of 0.5 per mille, while reaction and decision-making speed can be close to one per mille. For this reason, in some professions, such as long-haul drivers, driving while sleep-deprived is strictly prohibited.
Sleep affects the ability to concentrate, remember and make decisions, and a shortage worsens all of these, the psychologist stresses.
