Diseases Linked With Lack Of Sleep: Breaking Some Myths
Cover Photo By Kinga Cichewicz
Often many people groan at their beeping alarms signifying that they have to wake up. Though this gets misconstrued often as loving their bed and sleep too much, it’s usually because they have tossed the whole night before they could sleep. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep does more damage to people than they realize. Below are diseases linked with a lack of sleep that aren’t a myth.
Diabetes
With many people living busy lives, finding time to cook at home is becoming difficult. As expected, this leads to many people reaching for unhealthy fast foods to make a quick meal out of. However, a major lack of sleep side effect that gets often overlooked is type 2 diabetes. When you have less than sufficient night rest, your body loses control of how it synthesizes glucose. As a result, the natural biological reaction of releasing insulin is delayed, and over time the system gets overloaded. With time, sleep deprivation puts you at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Heart Diseases
As lack of sleep puts your body at a stressed state, developing heart diseases is a common side effect. Often the heart has to work consistently as you do not give it sufficient time to rest. As with every muscle, the heart needs adequate recovery time to heal. Unfortunately, to deal with your constant risen state, your heart overcompensates which exposes you to developing various diseases like irregular heartbeats, coronary heart diseases and in extreme cases even suffer from a stroke.
Elevated Blood Pressure
Ideally, there are various medical reasons why someone would suffer from hypertension. However, one of the causes of the lack of sleep that many people overlook is suffering from elevated blood pressure. When you deprive your body of the needed rest, your body reacts by releasing various chemicals in your body. As a result, the chemicals cause inflammation that spikes your blood pressure for a few hours to a full day, increasing your chances of developing heart diseases.
Increased Metabolic Changes
Research has proved time and again that people eat to pass up time. However, people who have trouble sleeping throughout the night have an added risk of being obese. However, your body secretes hormones while you sleep to regulate metabolism, eating pattern, and glucose processing.
When you stay awake for long periods, your body is unable to get the right balance and undergoes metabolic changes. These changes lead to lower levels of hormone Leptin. As a result, it tells the brain that you haven’t had enough to eat leading to uncontrollable food cravings.
Increased Risk for Depression
Feeling tired, lethargic, and moody are some of the side effects of sleeping for short periods. However, depression symptoms have been linked to people who sleep for less than 5 hours a day causing sleep deprivation. Ideally, the lack of sleep effects on your brain leads to a decrease of good feel hormones; hence many end up feeling stressed, angry and generally less optimistic. As a result, persons who have had their sleep restored showed massive improvement in their depressive symptoms.
Lack of Sleep Kills Sex Drive
If you want to have a healthy sex life, having enough sleep is imperative. Studies have shown that sleep-deprived persons report a reduced interest in sex and a low libido. The lowered libido effect is usually attributed to low or depleted energy. Additionally, low libido is especially heightened in men as it is associated with sleep apnea that is directly linked to low testosterone levels. Use this as an excuse to check out this review for a new comfortable mattress for maximum restful nights.
Poor balance
Unknown to many people, lack of sleep usually leads to poor balance. For this reason, experiencing double vision and staggered walking is a common side effect during different sleep deprivation stages. As your sleep cycle is interrupted, poor coordination is a common side effect; for this reason, you will be more prone to falls and other physical accidents as you get your bearing. Additionally, this is especially dangerous to people who drive or operate heavy machinery as it may lead to accidents.
Lack of Sleep Ages Your Skin
Clear, smooth, radiant skin is one of the most sort- after beauty secrets. However, with increased pollution and stress from everyday life, achieving this is difficult and hence why the multi-billion cosmetic industry exists. However, one excellent way of getting beautiful, flawless skin is by getting your beauty sleep.
Your body produces cortisol, a stress-induced hormone that breaks down the collagen needed for beautiful skin. Remember, cortisol is caused by undue pressure of your body has to function with small amounts of sleep. As a result, you experience saggy skin and puffy eyes if you skip one too many nights of sleep.
Memory issues
If you tend to be forgetful, be ready to experience more memory issues when you choose to skip your sleep. During sleep, the brain forms connections that help you process information. The newly received information is analyzed, repeated, and stored for future use. Nonetheless, this “sharp wave ripples” as its scientifically known consolidates the use of both short term and long term memory. To improve your memory, establish a sleep deprivation treatment regime that allows you to get more sleep during the say.
Weakened Immunity
A weakened system is often caused by the body’s inability to produce its antibodies. However, recent research had lowered that too little sleep leads to reduced energy levels as your body will be too busy keeping up with body functions. The reduced energy leads to lowered defenses against any virus infection. As the body will be unable to fight diseases like common cold and flu. pone to get sicker when exposed to germs
Conclusion
As seen above, insufficient sleep affects your health in several ways. For this reason, try and get a minimum of 7 to hours of sleep every night to ensure that your body is at its peak performance. If other health issues cause a lack of sleep, get medical help as soon as possible.
