When we mention of sleep deprivation, it mean that you body doesn’t get enough sleep, it is similar to insomnia. Are you wondering what the effects of sleep deprivation are? Many of us are guilty of cutting our sleep short and I know you have your excuse such as your busy at work, you want to spend time with your family, you have a lot of chores, your commute to work is long and etc. You may think that cutting an hour of sleep won’t make such difference, but you must think again.
An adult needs about seven up to nine hours of sleep every night and it is a fact that a lot of people do not achieve that number of hours. Cutting sleep would mean that you will only have six hours or less sleep; of course this would not affect you if it is only one night, but a week of little sleep will certainly cause some sleep deprivation effects.
Top 10 Sleep Deprivation Effects
There are many symptoms of sleep deprivation. Most of them are very complex. Here just list a few,
1. Chronic Deprivation Of Sleep Risk Stroke
Yes, you are not having a nightmare. In a 2019 research, it has been suggested that sleep deprivation can cause the risk of you having a stroke. You may not be overweight, you may not be a smoker, you may not have high blood pressure, or your family may have no history of it but sleep deprivation alone can increase your risk.
2. Cause Gain Weight
You may be thinking that sleep deprivation will make you lose weight but it is actually the other way around. When you lack sleep, it will make your body increase production of hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases on leptin which balance food intake. These changes would cause you to eat more or crave for junk food.
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3. Decrease The sexual Urge
This issue will surely cause some marital strife to married people since the lack of intimacy wouldn’t bring couples closer. This is because the lack of sleep would cause you to be tired and uninterested in anything else but sleeping.
4. Low Immunity
If you don’t get enough sleep then you would most likely fall prey to common sickness like cough and colds. This is because people with not enough sleep do not produce sufficient antibodies to protect their body from sickness.
5. Risk Diabetes
Researchers from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, found that the more you are sleep deprived, the more resistance your body has to insulin. This would mean that your body is not using insulin properly even if you have a good diet and restrict calorie.
6. Cause Memory Loss
It is a given that less sleep would result in you being forgetful and unfocused but did you know that lack of sleep would further cause deterioration in your brain that will result in memory loss? If you don’t have enough sleep then your brain loses the opportunity to gain memory-storing properties that is obtained in sleeping.
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7. Risk Cancer
Recent studies suggest that poor sleep can increase the risk of a certain cancer. Though the research body is still small, it has been growing in the past few years. A study in 2010 also found that 27% of people diagnosed for colorectal cancer were having less than six hours of sleep per day.
8. Increase Heart Disease
Do you know that people that sleep less each night and have trouble staying asleep increases their risk of developing or dying from heart disease? This is according to a research in 2011 that sleep deprivation will cause the body to produce hormones and chemicals that can cause heart disease.
9. Shorten Lifespan
People that have less than seven hours of sleep every night are also four times more likely to die over a 14-year period. And it is not just because of related heart problems that cause these deaths.
10. Bone Loss
Though still not proven on human beings, experts suggest that people with a lesser sleep increase the risk of osteoporosis and impair the ability to repair bone damage as you age.
I know some of these effects are really shocking and frightening but the good news is that having a good night’s sleep is within your control. If you have more sleep deprivation effects to share then feel free to share it with us in the comment section below.
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