HOMELESSNESS IN THE US

It’s difficult to sleep if you don’t have a home. It’s especially difficult to sleep deeply when you have no way to secure your personal belongings and you’re worried about your personal safety.

Unfortunately, this describes what sleeping is like for the homeless.

It’s not just about not having a home. Many factors make it difficult for homeless people to get quality sleep, such as:

• Noise from people or cars
• Light from the street or the sun
• Extreme heat, cold, or inclement weather
• Fear of being robbed, physically or sexually assaulted, or killed
• Dirtiness of the ground due to vermin and trash
• Physical ailments (illness, hunger, intoxication, injuries)

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation for even just a night or two can vastly affect your productivity and mental processing. Imagine what sleeping for varying amounts in strange environments over several days does to your body, your circadian rhythms, and your mind. It wreaks havoc on your system. Unfortunately, this is the case for many homeless people.

The average adult needs 6 to 9 hours of sleep per night. By contrast, homeless people report getting as low as 3.5 hours of sleep per night. Often, that sleep is interrupted for a variety of reasons, so it’s rare for a homeless person to have truly restful sleep.

The effects of long-term sleep deprivation are serious. It deprives your body of the ability to rest your mind and your organs and revitalize itself. Chronic sleep deprivation increases your risk for:

• Obesity and diabetes
• Schizophrenia-like symptoms
• Violent and aggressive behavior
• Memory loss

It’s not uncommon for homeless people to start taking drugs to stay awake, and then using different drugs to get themselves to fall asleep – developing a dangerous, unhealthy habit. Although many people drink to help themselves fall asleep, alcohol actually disrupts REM  sleep later in the night, which is vital to getting a good night’s sleep.

Sleep deprivation worsens symptoms of mental illness. Insomnia can lead to depression.

People suffering from PTSD, whether a veteran, a victim of sexual or physical assault, or another traumatic reason or event that may have led to the homelessness itself, often have difficulty sleeping. They’re living with paranoia and fear, and are more likely to have nightmares.

Since sleep deprivation makes it more difficult to think clearly, it’s even harder to get a job. Over time, a vicious cycle emerges that makes it more challenging for homeless people to transition to a more stable living environment.

Then, once they find transitional or more stable housing, many homeless people aren’t used to the quiet, so their sleep deprivation can continue even in a more stable setting.

Sleeping in a Homeless Shelter

Emergency shelters were designed to give the homeless a place to sleep for the night. While they provide shelter from environmental hazards such as vermin and extreme weather, they’re not necessarily safe, and they’re certainly not conducive to sleep.

Emergency shelters typically offer a “dormitory” setting where there can be as many as 100 cots or beds. Guests may sleep in a shared space with people of the opposite sex, which poses a precarious situation for homeless women.

Some shelters do require guests to be sober and pass a screening process. However, in many a guest finds themselves sleeping among other people who are up making noise talking to themselves or each other, fighting, yelling, drunk, and suffering from hallucinations or mental illness.

70% of those sleeping in a shelter said they felt so tired they couldn’t function normally the following day, according to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. They reported that their sleep was interrupted due to being woken up by other people’s snoring (64%), their mind racing (51%), fear of physical harm or injury (27%), or voices in their head (10%).

Sleeping on the Street

Not everyone can or wants to sleep in a homeless shelter. The alternative is sleeping on the street.

The main obstacle homeless people face in getting admitted to a shelter is overcrowding. There simply aren’t enough beds. During periods of extreme cold or heat, many emergency shelters open up additional warming beds and cots to accommodate more people.

Other obstacles that prevent homeless people from sleeping in emergency shelters are sobriety, and surprisingly, jobs. Many emergency shelters require residents to pass a drug and alcohol tests. If a homeless person is intoxicated, they won’t be admitted to the shelter. If a homeless person has a job, they may not be able to get off work in time to secure a spot in line for shelter admittance.

In some cases, homeless people choose to sleep on the street. If you’re a woman or LGBT, you may not feel safe in a shared dormitory setting.

Pets also pose an issue. For many homeless people, a pet is not only their companion and family, but their main protection against being robbed or attacked. Many shelters prohibit pets, forcing these people to stay on the street.