Are you sleep deprived? If you’ve ever spent a night tossing and turning in bed, you already know how you’ll feel the next day: tired, irritable, and moody. But not getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night doesn’t just leave you feeling sluggish and irritable, it can have serious consequences.
According to a report on the French website Presse Santé, the long-term effects of sleep deprivation are real.
Lack of sleep drains your mental abilities and puts your physical health at risk. Scientific studies link lack of sleep to a number of health problems, from weight gain to a weakened immune system.
Lack of sleep occurs due to a decrease in the number of hours a person spends sleeping, or a decrease in the quality of sleep, meaning that sleep is not comfortable and the person keeps waking up.
Getting less than 7 hours of sleep can have health consequences for your entire body. It may also be due to an underlying sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea.
Your body needs sleep, just like it needs air and food to function at its best. During sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Your brain forms new mental connections and enhances memory retention. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally. It can also significantly reduce your quality of life.
Here’s exactly how lack of sleep affects specific body functions and systems.
6 Body Systems That Are Damaged By Lack of Sleep
1- Central nervous system
Your central nervous system is your body’s main information highway. Sleep is essential for your body to function properly, but chronic insomnia can disrupt the way your body normally sends and processes information.
During sleep, pathways are formed between nerve cells (neurons) in your brain, helping you remember new information you’ve learned. Lack of sleep makes your brain tired, so it can’t function as well.
You may also have difficulty concentrating or learning new things. Your body’s signals may also be delayed, reducing your coordination and increasing your risk of accidents. Lack of sleep also negatively affects your mental abilities and emotional state. You may feel more impatient or prone to mood swings. It can also compromise your decision-making and creativity.
Lack of sleep can also trigger mania in people with bipolar disorder. Mania is a state of multiple thoughts at an unusual speed, but the rapid movement from one thought to another makes the person lose track of what they mean by what they say or do, and leads to behaviors that may not be acceptable in normal circumstances.
Bipolar disorder is an illness that consists of episodes of mania and depression separated by periods of normal mood. Manic episodes involve high spirits or irritability, hyperactivity, rapid speech, inflated self-esteem, and decreased need for sleep.
Other psychological risks include:
- Impulsive behavior
- Anxiety
- Depression
- suicidal thoughts
You may also experience microsleep during the day. During these episodes, you fall asleep for a few seconds or more without realizing it, and it is out of your control and can be very dangerous if you are driving. It can also make you more susceptible to injury if you operate heavy machinery at work and have a microsleep episode.
2- The immune system
While you sleep, your immune system produces substances that protect against infection, such as antibodies and cytokines. These substances are used to fight off foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses. Some cytokines also help you sleep, giving your immune system more effective defense against disease.
If you don’t get enough sleep, your body may not be able to clear the infection, and it may take longer to clear the illness. Failure to get restful sleep over the long term also increases your risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
3- Respiratory system
Lack of sleep can make you more susceptible to respiratory infections such as coughing. Sleep apnea is also a serious condition that can be caused by lack of sleep.
In sleep apnea, breathing is interrupted during sleep, as a result of relaxation of the throat walls, which leads to narrowing and stopping of normal breathing, and this may lead to sleep interruption. Sleep apnea also has negative effects on a person’s health, which may lead to stroke.
In sleep apnea, there may be a complete blockage of the airway, which is when breathing stops for ten seconds or more.
Also, partial airway obstruction (hypopnea) may occur, resulting in a decrease in airflow of more than 50% for ten seconds or more.
People with sleep apnea may experience frequent sleep apnea attacks, up to once every minute or two in severe cases.
4- Metabolic system
Lack of sleep is a risk factor for obesity. Sleep affects levels of two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, that control feelings of hunger and fullness.
Leptin is a hormone that regulates energy balance in the body, inhibiting food intake and thus stimulating weight loss. It is currently believed that some obese people may have leptin resistance.
Leptin is also known as the satiety hormone, and it opposes the action of ghrelin.
Lack of sleep disrupts the levels of these hormones, and as a result, your appetite will become stronger and you will eat more.
5- Cardiovascular system
Lack of sleep affects the processes that keep your heart and blood healthy, including blood sugar, blood pressure, and inflammation levels. People who don’t get enough sleep are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease. A link can be made between insomnia and the risk of heart attack and stroke.
6- Endocrine system
Sleep affects the production of hormones by the endocrine glands in the body. Lack of sleep negatively affects the production of the male hormone “testosterone” and growth hormone, especially in children and adolescents.
These hormones help the body develop muscle mass and repair cells and tissues.
Ways to help you follow a healthy sleep schedule:
- Limit daytime naps (or avoid them altogether).
- Avoid caffeine in the afternoon or at least a few hours before bed.
- Go to bed at the same time every night.
- wake up at the same time every morning
- Stick to a regular sleep schedule on weekends and holidays.
- Spend an hour before bed doing relaxing activities, such as reading, meditating, or taking a bath.
- Avoid heavy meals in the hours before bedtime.
- Avoid using electronic devices right before bed.
- Exercise regularly, but not in the evening before bedtime.
If you continue to have trouble sleeping at night and are tired during the day, talk to your doctor. You can check for health problems that may be disrupting your sleep.
Caffeine Caution
Stimulants, such as caffeine, can make sleep deprivation worse by making it harder to fall asleep at night. This can lead to a cycle of nighttime insomnia followed by daytime caffeine use to combat fatigue from lack of sleep.
According to the German Society for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine, the causes of sleep disorders include:
- Organic diseases such as chronic pain, heart and lung diseases, snoring, sleep apnea, and restless legs syndrome.
- Psychological disorders such as panic disorder, anxiety, depression, sleepwalking and nightmares.
- Certain medications such as painkillers, antihypertensives, and antidepressants, as well as glucocorticoids, which are used to treat inflammation, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases, neurodermatitis, and chronic inflammatory bowel disease.