sleep deprivation affects our health, sleep deprivation
Health

Introduction: How Sleep deprivation affects our health?

If you’ve ever spent a night tossing and turning, you’ll feel the next day Tired, cranky, and irritable.  But missing out on the recommended 7 to 9 hours of shut-eye nightly does more than make you feel dazed. Lack of sleep can make you grumpy and foggy. You may not know what it can do to your sex life, memory, health, looks, and even ability to lose weight.

Causes of sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation is caused by a consistent lack of

1. Sleep or reduced quality of sleep.

Getting less than 7 hours of sleep on a regular basis can eventually lead to health consequences that affect your entire body. This may also be caused by an underlying sleep disorder.

2. Your body needs sleep, just as it needs air and food to function

. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Your brain forges new thought connections and helps memory retention. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally. It can also dramatically lower your quality of life.

3. A review of studies in 2010Trusted Source found that sleeping too little at night increases the risk of early death.

4. Stimulants

Such as caffeine, aren’t enough to override your body’s profound need for sleep. .caffine makes sleep deprivation very worst, leading to a cycle of nighttime insomnia followed by daytime caffeine consumption to reduce the tiredness caused by the lost hours of shut-eye.

Chronic sleep deprivation can also affect your body’s internal systems and cause more than just the initial signs and symptoms listed above.

Central nervous system

Sleep is necessary to keep it functioning properly, but chronic insomnia can disrupt how your body usually sends and processes information followings are some of the effects of sleep deprivation on the nervous system

1. During sleep, pathways form between nerve cells (neurons) in your brain that help you remember new information you’ve learned. Sleep deprivation leaves your brain exhausted, so it can’t perform its duties as well.

  1. Difficult to concentrate or learn new things. The signals may also be delayed, decreasing your coordination and increasing your risk for accidents

3. Affects your mental abilities and emotional state. You feel more impatient or prone to mood swings.

  1. It can also compromise decision-making processes and creativity.

5. If sleep deprivation continues long enough, you could start having hallucinations

6.. A lack of sleep can also trigger mania in people who have a bipolar mood disorder.

You may also end up experiencing microsleep during the day. During these episodes, you’ll fall asleep for a few to several seconds without realizing it. Microsleep is out of your control and can be extremely dangerous

Immune system

1. While you sleep, your immune system produces protective, infection-fighting substances like antibodies and cytokines. It uses these substances to prevent foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses.

2. Certain cytokines also help you to sleep, giving your immune system more efficiency to defend your body against illness.

3. Sleep deprivation prevents your immune system from building up its forces.  , your body may not be able to defend against invaders, and it may also take you longer to recover from illness.

4. Long-term sleep deprivation also increases your risk such as diabetes mellitus and heart disease.

Respiratory system

The relationship between sleep and the respiratory system goes both ways

  1. A nighttime breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can interrupt your sleep and lower sleep quality.
  2. Sleep deprivation leaves you more vulnerable to respiratory infections like the common cold and flu.

3. Sleep deprivation can also make existing respiratory diseases worse, such as chronic lung illness.

Digestive system

  1. sleep deprivation is another risk factor for becoming overweight and obese. Sleep affects the levels of two hormones, leptin, and ghrelin, which control feelings of hunger and fullness.

2. Leptin tells your brain that you’ve had enough to eat. Without enough sleep, your brain reduces leptin and raises ghrelin, which is an appetite stimulant

3. The flux of these hormones could explain nighttime snacking or why someone may overeat later in the night.

  1. Over time, reduced physical activity leads to gaining weight because you’re not burning enough calories and not building muscle mass.

5. Sleep deprivation also causes your body to release less insulin after you eat.

6. Sleep deprivation also lowers the body’s tolerance for glucose and is associated with insulin resistance. These disruptions can lead to diabetes mellitus and obesity.

Cardiovascular system

1. Sleep affects blood sugar, blood pressure, and inflammation levels. It also plays a vital role in your body’s ability to heal and repair the blood vessels and heart.

2. People who don’t sleep enough are more likely to get cardiovascular disease. For example, insomnia increased the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Endocrine system

1. Hormone production is dependent on your sleep.

  1. For testosterone production, you need at least 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is about the time of your first R.E.M. episode.

3. This interruption also affects growth hormone production, especially in children and adolescents.

4. The pituitary gland releases growth hormone throughout each day, but adequate sleep and exercise also help the release of this hormone.

Treatment for sleep deprivation

1. The most basic form of sleep deprivation treatment is getting an adequate amount of sleep for 7 to 9 hours each night.

2. Sleep disorders may make it difficult to get quality sleep at night.

To diagnose these conditions, your doctor may order a sleep study. If you’re diagnosed with a sleep disorder, you may be given medication or a device to keep your airway open at night (in the case of obstructive sleep apnea) to help combat the disorder so you can get a better night’s sleep on a regular basis.

Prevention: Sleep deprivation

Other ways you can get back on track with a healthy sleep schedule include:

  •  Avoiding heavy meals within a few hours before bedtime
  • Refraining from using electronic devices right before bed
  • Exercising regularly, but not in the evening hours close to bedtime
  • Reducing alcohol intake
  • Limiting daytime naps (or avoiding them altogether)
  • Refraining from caffeine past noon or at least a few hours prior to bedtime
  • Going to bed at the same time each night
  • Waking up at the same time every morning
  • Sticking to your bedtime schedule during weekends and holidays
  • Spending an hour before bed doing relaxing activities, such as reading, meditating, or taking a bath

If you continue to have problems sleeping at night and are fighting daytime fatigue, talk to your doctor. They can test for underlying health conditions that might be getting in the way of your sleep schedule.

How To Sleep 8 Hours in 4 Hours

Why Sleep Is Essential

Everyone has two stages of sleep; REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep, and each serves an essential bodily function.

Non REM sleep has three different stages which play a role in

  1. Repairing the body’s muscle tissues,

2. Retaining and building muscle (which is helpful for older folks),

3. Strengthening the immune system.

REM sleep,

1. Refreshes your mind

2. crucial for important brain functions like memory retention, learning, regulating your mood, and brain development for younger individuals.

Step 1. Practice Relaxing Activities

It’s almost impossible to receive a deep, quality sleep if we feel anxious, stressed, or worked up.

  • it’s important to feel completely relaxed before you hunker down in bed.
  • That way, when you eventually tuck yourself in, you’re more easily able to slip into a deep slumber because your brain and body are already prepared for sleep mode.
  • Read a book Research suggests that just 6 minutes of reading a day can reduce stress levels by a whopping 68%.

Step 2. Step Away From Electronic Screens

you should give your brain a well-deserved break from device screens by Putting away your devices an hour to an hour and a half before you plan to go to bed.

Step 3. Get Comfy In A Dark And Quiet Environment

  • you want to make sure your bedroom is nice and dark when you go to bed.
  • Light limits the amount of melatonin your body produces, which is one of the signals that tell your body it’s time to enter sleep mode.
  • So complete darkness is ideal if you want quality sleep.

Step 4. Avoid Liquids Before Sleep

  • stay away from ingesting liquids before going to bed. Even water.
  • Otherwise, you risk waking up 2-3 hours in to use the restroom, and it isn’t always so easy to go back to sleep once you return.

Step 5. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is having the ability to manage or cope with certain thoughts, and being able to guide them in a more neutral, calming direction.

How Sleep Is Affecting Your Hair

A good and restorative night’s sleep is required for the protein synthesis of the hair + the release of enzymes and growth hormones that are necessary for overall hair health.

The way that sleep affects your body’s natural hormones is probably the most important part of preventing hair loss. Your body produces a hormone called melatonin. This hormone helps your body regulate your sleep cycle, and it also has been shown to increase hair growth. If your body decreases its melatonin levels, it’s possible that this results in hair loss.

  • We’ve put together a list of some good sleep hygiene rules to follow every night to promote a deep and restorative sleep:
  •  Don’t nap for longer than 15-30 minutes during the day
  • Find the right mattress for you that makes you feel cozy and comfy
  • Try to stick to a consistent bedtime & wakeup time
  • Stop going on your phone at least an hour before you’d like to fall asleep
  • Make the room as dark as possible

Conclusion:

So we hope that you have learned about How Sleep deprivation affects our health! Sleep deprivation drains your mental abilities and puts your physical health at real risk.

 

 

 

 

Subin Joshua
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Author: Hi there, my name is Subin Joshua, and I am a Medical student. I grew up in a family of teachers and know that being a social worker is my calling. My passion for helping others has been evident in my involvement in helping the poor and needy for the last three years. Through those experiences, I have learned to interact with a diverse group of people, which has increased my ability to relate to others.