Did you know that around 100,000 deaths occur each year in US hospitals due to medical errors?
And sleep deprivation is a big part of that.
Hi viewers and welcome back to Bestie!
We all know that sleep is necessary for our physical and mental health, but still take
it for granted.
In fact, 1 in 5 adults in the US do not receive enough sleep.
Insufficient sleep has been linked to a number of health problems, both short and long term.
While the short-term impacts are more noticeable, chronic sleep deprivation can heighten the
= risk of health problems.
And in today’s video, we will tell you the harmful effects of not getting enough sleep.
From difficulty learning, increased heart disease risk, poor judgement, skin damage
to psychiatric disorders and more, watch till the end to learn about all of them.
It’s More Difficult to Lose Weight: Not getting seven to eight hours of sleep each
night can increase your appetite for pleasurable but unhealthy foods, like candy and chips.
A study found that participants who didn’t get enough sleep four nights in a row had
more cravings for these unhealthy snacks.
Research has also found a lack of sleep increases the release of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates
your appetite, and decreases the release of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full.
In addition, if you're not getting enough sleep, you may not have the energy to exercise
regularly, which can also contribute to weight gain.
What’s the worst food that you can’t get enough of?
Candy?
Chips?
Tell us quickly down below in the comments section!
Depression & Anxiety: You may feel irritable when you haven’t had a good night’s sleep.
But long term deprivation has been linked to clinical depression and a general loss
of motivation.
Patients with depression often have irregular sleep schedules.
Sleep cycles and mood are regulated by the hormone melatonin.
In fact, lower levels of melatonin are often found in people suffering from depression
and those affected by insomnia.
Anxiety and panic attacks can also be a common reaction for people struggling with chronic
sleep deficiency.
They’ve been shown to have a lower tolerance for even mild daily stressors.
Like depression, sometimes it can be difficult to understand what came first: anxiety or
the sleep disorder.
Higher Chance of Accidents: Serious accidents are very often linked to poor sleep schedules
and fatigue.
Studies have found that driving while suffering from sleep loss is just as dangerous as driving
drunk.
This is because your reaction times are equally impacted by both activities.
People under 25 are especially affected by this phenomenon.
In addition to accidents on the road, a lack of sleep can also lead to higher risk of injuries
or accidents.
Not sleeping enough has been linked to a significant increase in repeated work accidents as well
as an increased number of sick days.
Difficulty Learning: Sleep is essential to the cognitive processes associated with learning.
A lack of sleep brings down alertness and attention span.
A lack of attention also limits a person’s ability to reason and solve problems effectively.
This means that people who are fatigued cannot learn at an effective level.
Skills that have been learned during the day are converted into memories during the night.
Even if you manage to learn a significant amount during the day, you will not be able
to remember it if you do not get enough sleep.
It allows your body to store this knowledge in the long-term area of the brain.
Lower Immunity: While you sleep, your immune system produces protective, infection-fighting
substances like antibodies and cytokines.
It uses these substances to combat foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses.
Certain cytokines also help you to sleep, giving your immune system a better chance
against illness.
Sleep deprivation prevents your immune system from building up its forces.
If you don’t get enough sleep, your body may not be able to fend off invaders, and
it may also take you longer to recover from illness.
Long-term sleep deprivation also increases your risk for chronic conditions, such as
diabetes and heart disease.
Trouble Remembering Things: Lack of sleep can impair your working memory, which is imprinting
something you read or an event as it happens.
It also hampers memory consolidation, which is what allows memory to stick over time.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, you’ll start to experience problems with short and
long-term memory.
There’s an additional bit of bad news here, too.
Sleeping aids might help you fall asleep, but they’re not actually allowing your brain
to perform the kind of sleep that creates memory.
Plus, the depression which can result from a lack of sleep can worsen memory issues as
well.
Further disrupting focus and actually damaging brain cells in memory-related areas of the
brain.
Increased Risk of Heart Disease: Getting less than seven hours of sleep each night can increase
your risk of heart disease, heart attack, or stroke.
This is regardless of your age, weight, and whether or not you smoke or exercise.
Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for heart disease.
While you're getting a good night's sleep, your blood pressure should decrease by about
10% to 20%, which is known as nocturnal dipping.
But if you don't get the sleep you need, your blood pressure won't dip at night.
And research has found that even small increases in your nighttime blood pressure level can
lead to an increased risk of heart disease.
A consistent lack of sleep can also affect your body's ability to regulate stress hormones,
and this chronic stress may contribute to a heart attack over time.
Disrupted concentration: Focusing is difficult enough, but not sleeping makes it all that
much worse.
You just won’t be able to concentrate, focus on a task or do your work as effectively as
you used to.
Even something as simple as watching something—as in, actually focusing on it rather than doom-scrolling
simultaneously—could be more difficult.
Researchers found that one of the main reasons for this is that tired brain cells experience
communication issues that result in spaciness.
And an astounding 75 percent of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or
ADHD may be experiencing a chronic underlying sleep issue.
Increased risk of diabetes: When you’re not sleeping, your body ceases to process
the hormone insulin.
This is critical to blood sugar regulation.
Insulin resistance can then lead to the development of Type 2 Diabetes over time.
In fact, one study actually showed that losing just one night of sleep did as much to increase
insulin resistance as six months on a high-fat diet.
The high blood sugar levels that result from insulin resistance can then cause further
sleep disturbances in an exhausting cycle.
Poor Judgement: A lack of sleep can also result in poor judgment.
This may be because sleep deprivation affects your brain's area that controls logical thinking.
Sleep-deprived people are more likely to engage in aggressive behavior.
They also lack self-control.
It might also affect your moral judgment, because it impairs your brain's ability to
use emotion and cognition to help you make decisions.
A study found that military personnel in combat may make choices they wouldn't have if they
were well-rested, such as whether to harm or kill someone in order to save the lives
of others.
Skin Damage: Just one night of missed sleep can lead to puffy eyes and sallow skin.
If you continue down this path of sleep loss, this can become permanent.
It can lead to dark circles under the eyes, aging skin and fine lines across the face.
The elasticity of the skin can also become damaged over time when you don’t get enough
shut eye.
Another side effect is chronic fatigue which leads to excessive stress.
This causes your body to produce more of the hormone cortisol, which breaks down the protein
in the skin that keeps it elastic and smooth leading to damaged skin.
Apart from lack of sleep, there are certain foods that can damage your skin as well.
Avoid such foods by watching this video titled “17 Foods That Are Bad For Your Skin!”
Now, back to harmful consequences of not sleeping enough.
Respiratory Problems: The relationship between sleep and the respiratory system goes both
ways.
A nighttime breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea or OSA can interrupt your sleep
and lower its quality.
As you wake up throughout the night, this can cause sleep deprivation, which leaves
you more vulnerable to respiratory infections like the common cold and flu.
It can also make existing respiratory diseases worse, such as chronic lung illness.
Psychiatric Disorders: An extreme and long-term lack of sleep can lead to a number of psychiatric
disturbances.
Some people suffering from extended periods of sleep deprivation have experienced symptoms
including disorientation, paranoia and hallucinations.
These types of symptoms can sometimes be confused or associated with schizophrenia.
Increased Chances Of Death: Studies have shown that people who have irregular sleep patterns
or schedules that do not allow for adequate rest on a regular basis have a higher mortality
rate than those who get enough sleep on a regular basis.
Most notably, patients who suffer from a lack of sleep appear to have a significantly higher
risk of developing chronic illnesses.
The only way to deal with sleep deprivation is by using techniques to help you sleep better.
Learn more about them by:
Learning about Life Hacks To Get A Good Night's Sleep
Or
Finding out The Best Foods That Will Help You Sleep Better Instantly
These 2 videos will definitely help you achieve better sleep for a healthier body.
So go ahead and pick a video, or watch them both for maximum benefits.
How many hours of sleep on an average do you get every night?
Let us know in the comments section below!