Sleep deprivation damages the immune system, weakens your sex drive, makes you depressed, and even makes you put on weight. If you don’t get enough sleep, you also boost your odds of getting cancer, diabetes, or crashing the car. And that goes for a lot of people: A majority, about one in three adults, get less sleep than they need, said the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Knowing more about what happens to your body when you don’t spend hours tucked under the covers.
Your Heart, Skin, and Figure Suffer
Sleep loss can make you more vulnerable to disease because sleep loss can weaken your body’s ability to fight off bacteria and viruses. But that’s not all. The European Heart Journal once published an experiment that showed that too little (less than 5 hours a day) and too much (over 9 or more hours a day) of sleep can harm heart health. For example, the chances of developing coronary heart disease risk or stroke rise in the former case.
But if the health risks don’t convince you to get more sleep, at least do it for your appearance. People who don’t get enough sleep at night have thinner, flabbier, and irregularly colored skin. And of course, wrinkles! More so than their well-rested colleagues, poor sleepers are dissatisfied with their appearance.
Also, a Japanese American study of 21,471 adults over age 20 investigated the link between sleep and weight. Those who slept less than five hours a night for three years were more likely to become fat and eventually gain weight. Those who slept 7 to 8 hours felt much better.
You’re Ruining Your Brain
A night without sleep can bring some serious thinking problems. In a study published in the journal Experimental Brain Research, a group of 18 people were given two tasks: This was the first they performed after a full night’s sleep and the second after a sleepless night. Brain functions such as memory, decision-making, reasoning, problem-solving, reaction time, and alertness decayed.
Besides, skipping sleep also lowers your IQ level. Regular sleep deprivation is indirect, but it makes you more forgetful and it adversely impacts your long-term learning and memory. Experts on the Cerebrum iq website say that sleep is needed for information to be fixed in the brain. Put differently, we have to have a good rest at night to fix the data we’ve collected during the day.
Your Libido is Decreasing
Also, sex hormones – including testosterone – that are important to maintaining a sex drive are negatively affected by lack of sleep. The study of experts from the University of Chicago shows a drop in testosterone levels by 10-15% in young men, who didn’t sleep more than 5 hours just for one week. As a result of this, libido and overall vitality were markedly weakened.
What adds to the problem is that as testosterone goes down, other aspects of health also worsen. As a group, the participants complained of worsening mood, alertness, and concentration. These factors increase the effect of lack of sleep, creating a vicious circle: Desire is reduced by fatigue, and, by implication, the overall condition is worsened by lack of satisfaction.
Increased Risk of Diabetes
Lack of sleep is directly linked to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Studies show that chronic sleep deprivation impairs the body’s sensitivity to insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Even a few nights of sleep deprivation can significantly impair the cells’ ability to metabolize glucose, creating a favorable environment for the development of diabetes.
A Harvard Medical School study found that people who regularly sleep less than 5 hours have a 50% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who sleep 7-8 hours. This optimal sleep range helps maintain hormonal balance, regulate appetite, and prevent metabolic malfunctions.
Risk of Accidents Increases
According to the National Sleep Foundation (USA), if you sleep 6 hours or less each night, you triple your chances of getting into a car accident! The most vulnerable are truckers, those who work shifts or who travel frequently across time zones for business trips. Think twice before driving if you don’t get enough sleep.
In Conclusion
Getting enough sleep isn’t just for fun – it can actually save lives. Think about what you risk by having late-night serialized marathons or surfing Wikipedia for unnecessary facts at four o’clock in the morning…
If you can’t sleep, however, work on your daily regimen, discipline, and sleeping arrangements. Learn “forced” sleep techniques such as those used by the military. Also, hang blackout curtains, cover bright lights on electronic devices, and ventilate the room before going to sleep. And, of course, have a comfortable bed: a mattress and pillow with anatomical support and a blanket under which it will be neither hot nor cold.
