The Effects Of Lack Of Sleep
Lack of sleep is becoming a common issue, with everyone having busy lives, from work, studying, family life or even gaming, there are many factors that contribute to us staying awake for longer than we should. Getting enough sleep seems to be the last thing on your mind
Yet, there are many risks that can affect your health as your body needs sleep. During sleep, your body replenishes itself and restores its chemical balance. Without proper sleep, your brain and your body will not receive the rest it needs, and they will not function normally.
If you find it hard to fall asleep, then it might be time to change your sleeping environment, for example change your bed sheets, flip your mattress, try a new pillow or a new routine before bed time. Having lack of sleep has many affects, here’s 5 effect of lack of sleep:
1. Accidents
Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness which can slow reaction time as much as drink driving. It can affect your interpretation of events therefore hurting your ability to make a proper judgement. This is because we may not assess situations correctly and therefore act on them accordingly.
Those who lack sleep are prone to poor judgement especially on what their sleep deprivation is actually doing to them. If you think you are doing fine on little to no sleep, you are probably incorrect. Sleep deprivation is a safety hazard in everyday living and in a work environment. Accidents and injuries are more likely to occur, especially at work.
2. Difficulties Learning
As you sleep your brain, and your body restores themselves, allowing you to wake up ready for the day ahead. Various sleep cycles play a role in configuring memories in the mind. If you do not get enough sleep, you will not be able to remember what you learned or experienced during the day. Lack of sleep can impact the way you think and learn for the worse. This may affect those in academia the most. If you are a student who decides to do an all-nighter to get ahead in school, you may find that you face difficulties in learning the next day. This is because lack of sleep hinders your ability to concentrate, problem solve, stay alert and reason.
3. Depression
Sleep loss can have a long-lasting impact on emotional function and your ability to think soundly. Over time, lack of sleep can contribute to symptoms of depression. There are many reasons as to why you may lack sleep, one factor can be a sleep disorder. Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, has the strongest link to depression. It is said that depression and insomnia can affect each other very badly. Depression can make it much more difficult to fall asleep and lack of sleep can often aggravate the symptoms of depression. Those who are sleep-deprived are more likely to report feelings of failure, low self-esteem, poor job performance and reduced quality of life, among other things.
It can be said that treating sleep problems or symptoms of depression can help ease your mental health and sleep cycle.
4. Hormone Imbalance and Eating
Lack of sleep can contribute to an increase in appetite which could possibly result to obesity and other weight problems. If you frequently have little to no sleep, the body does not release the hormones necessary to regulate metabolism, glucose processing, and appetite. Instead it forms an excessive amount of stress chemicals, such as cortisol and norepinephrine. This hormone imbalance also disturbs other body hormones and causes them to behave abnormally. Along with the increase of cortisol being produced, less insulin will be released as you eat. This could possibly lead to too much glucose in your bloodstream which creates an increased risk of developing type two diabetes.
5. Aging Skin
Even if you were to not sleep for a few nights, you may find that you have puffy eyes and sallow skin. This is even worsened if you are deprived of sleep for a long time, you may experience fine lines, dark circles under the eyes and dull skin. As stated in the point above, when you do not get enough sleep your body will release more of the stress hormone cortisol. If an overabundance is produced, cortisol can break down skin collagen, which is a protein that maintains your skins smoothness and elasticity.
During deep sleep, the human growth hormone, which promotes growth when we are young, is released. As we age, this hormone helps increase muscle mass, strength bones and thicken skin. If you are deprived of sleep, the body will release too little of this hormone, thus affecting your overall health and appearance of skin.
Final Thoughts
Overall lack of sleep has many affects on your daily life from work to your general health. Sleep allows our body and mind to regenerate and restore, therefore its very important to get enough sleep. According to the Sleep Foundation, an adult aged 26-64 needs to sleep from 7-9 hours a night to fully restore, so make sure to prioritize how many hours of sleep you are sleeping.