Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Your Health
The majority of us are familiar with the morning after a night of little to no sleep. You’re not yourself—you’re tired, agitated, and out of energy. Because your mind becomes foggy, it is difficult to concentrate, and you may make careless mistakes, you need coffee after coffee to get through the day until you can finally crawl back into bed at night.
If you haven’t gotten enough sleep in a while, it may seem natural to feel tired and off-balance most of the time. However, contrary to common belief, getting enough sleep is essential for both your physical and mental health.
Regardless of your situation, understanding the signs, causes, and effects of sleep deprivation is the first step toward resolving the problem and ensuring you get enough sleep to rejuvenate your body and mind, protect your well-being, and perform at your best.
What is Sleep Deprivation?
“Sleep deprivation” happens when you don’t get enough sleep. The majority of adults require 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night for optimal health. Getting less sleep over time, as many people do, may eventually result in a variety of health problems.
While occasional sleep disruptions are unpleasant, skipping out on regular restorative sleep has the potential to significantly harm both your health and quality of life. Sleep deprivation can harm your immune system, heart and brain health, and ability to cope with stress, in addition to affecting your mood, vitality, and performance at work or school. It can cause weight gain, increase your risk of accidents, and put your health at risk for long-term conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, anxiety, and depression.
Sleep deprivation can develop in a single night, weeks, months, or even years. Sleep deprivation can occur if you typically get 8 hours of sleep but need 9 hours to feel rested.
What are the Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation?
An individual may exhibit a variety of signs of not getting enough good sleep. a few instances include:
- Feel tired, irritable, and fatigued throughout the day; yawn frequently.
- Unable to focus or remember things.
- Feeling less sexually stimulated.
- You struggle to get out of bed in the morning, need an alarm clock to wake you up, or frequently hit the snooze button.
- In the late afternoon, you may feel groggy or sleepy.
- You have difficulty staying awake during lectures, meetings, while driving or commuting in hot weather, or just after a substantial meal.
- Daytime naps are required.
- Pass out on the couch in the evening.
- Five minutes after entering their beds, they are fast asleep.
- Weekends necessitate late nights.
- Have experienced mood swings such as suicidal ideation, anxiety, worry, or depression.
What are the Sleep Deprivation Stages?
The main stages, however, are determined by how many hours of sleep you’ve missed. The effects of sleep deprivation typically worsen with each stage. There is no time limit for being sleep deprived.
The following are some of the possible effects of sleep deprivation on the body:
The Initial Stage: After 16 Hours of Sleep Deprivation
Any sleep less than what you require will leave you sleep-deprived, and the negative effects will begin to manifest soon after. The same is true for staying up later than usual.
If you stay up later, your brain will no longer function properly. It’s starting to resemble a garbage can overflow.
Stage 1: After 24 Hours of Sleep Deprivation
It’s nearly impossible to feel your best and perform at your best the day after pulling an all-nighter. In fact, not getting enough sleep for 24 hours causes cognitive impairment comparable to having a BAC of 0.10%, which is higher than the legal limit for driving in all 50 states.
You’ll probably feel tired, irritable, and have trouble concentrating.
Stage 2: 36 hours of Sleep Deprivation
When you don’t get 36 hours of sleep, your problems worsen. You will feel compelled to sleep deeply.
Microsleeps, or very brief sleep intervals, can occur without your knowledge. A microsleep typically lasts up to 30 seconds.
The various regions of your brain will struggle to communicate with one another. As a result, your cognitive function is severely impaired, resulting in symptoms such as:
- Memory issues
- Trouble learning new material
- Behavioral changes
- Impaired judgment
- Trouble interpreting social cues
Stage 3: After 48 Hours of Sleep Deprivation
Sleeping for two days straight not only increases your risk of an accident, but it also significantly reduces your body’s production of natural killer cells, which have antiviral and anti-tumor properties. Cognitive functions such as judgement and decision-making are also significantly impacted.
Stage 4: After 72 Hours of Sleep Deprivation
After three days of sleep deprivation, your desire to sleep will deteriorate. You may experience longer and more frequent microsleeps. Sleep deprivation will significantly impair your perception. Your hallucinations may become more complex. You could also:
- Illusions \delusions
- Mental disease
- Depersonalization
Stage 5: After 96 Hours of Sleep Deprivation
After 4 days, your perception of reality will be significantly distorted. You’ll also have a strong desire to sleep.Sleep deprivation psychosis occurs when you are so sleep-deprived that you are unable to comprehend reality.
Sleep deprivation psychosis usually goes away once you get enough sleep.
What is the Treatment for Sleep Deprivation?
Counseling, changes to one’s lifestyle and surroundings, medications, and complementary therapies are just a few of the many options for improving adequate sleep.
A person may occasionally require treatment for an underlying medical condition.
Cognitive and behavioral therapies
There are some methods that don’t use medicines, such as:
- Meditation, mindfulness training, breathing exercises, and guided imagery are all effective relaxation treatments. Sleep apps and audio recordings can also be beneficial.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, can help a person recognize the cognitive patterns that are causing them to have trouble sleeping.
Medications
Different drugs can alter a person’s sleep pattern or help them fall and remain asleep. Some drugs can even alter how a person dreams, decreasing the likelihood of their experiencing severe nightmares or other sleep disruptions. Medical professionals are careful when prescribing sleep aids because many of them have the potential to become habit-forming.
Breathing support methods
There are several ways to manage conditions like sleep apnea that impair breathing while you’re asleep. These include various kinds of pillows and supports, mouthpieces that change the position of your jaw, surgery to enlarge your airway, positive airway pressure equipment that maintains an open airway while you sleep, and more.
Brief Conclusion
Sleep deprivation can have a negative impact on a person’s physical and mental health, academic or professional performance, and overall quality of life. Consistent sleep deprivation can also have negative consequences or be a sign of a health problem, such as anxiety or sleep apnea. Anyone who is concerned about their lack of sleep should consult a physician.
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