11 Negative Things Sleep Deprivation Does To Your Body
Sleep is crucial to our wellbeing.
Too many Americans fail to get adequate levels of sleep because of busy lifestyles, early parenting stages, work demands, stress, anxiety, depression or other health concerns.
But, the longer we deprive our body of sleep, the more we tank our health.
As an adult, you should be getting between 7-9 hours of sleep every night.
While this time should be protected and planned into your routine as a part of a healthy lifestyle, the reality is: most adults don’t get enough sleep.
The CDC has called it an American “public health epidemic” and found that 50-70 million adults in the US struggle with chronic sleep and wakefulness disorders.
Over a third are reporting less than seven hours of sleep per night.
PHYSICAL IMPACT OF INADEQUATE SLEEP
There are three non-REM sleep stages before the REM sleep (which occurs around 90 minutes after falling asleep).
If you aren’t able to achieve enough time every night in REM sleep, you will struggle with the impacts of sleep deprivation.
Here are 11 of the ways sleep loss impacts your body.
1. Intoxicated-like Reactions
The CDC reports, a lack of sleep will affect you in a similar way to how high blood alcohol content (BAC) does.
Sleep deprivation after just 24 hours is the same as BAC illegal to drive within all 50 states.
The effects of sleep deprivation on the brain slows you down and gives you sluggish reactions times, like alcohol.
2. Lack of Coordination
Along with sluggishness, you will have trouble controlling your body when you are tired.
Your depth perception will be off and the potential for a car crash or workplace accident is much higher.
3. Trouble Thinking or Concentrating
Similar to the response with alcohol, your brain cognition will also be hindered with inadequate sleep.
You may have trouble reasoning soundly as your inhibition is lowered and your thoughts aren’t focused when you are tired.
Over time, this may start to feel like the new norm and you don’t notice the effect, but you won’t be operating at full capacity.
4. Memory Loss or Fogginess
Your brain builds and maintains pathways as you sleep that help you remember and
create memories.
Sleep is when your body should be able to flush beta-amyloid and other toxins from your brain that build up during wakeful hours.
High levels of beta-amyloid are found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s.
Clearing the brain and letting it repair itself overnight is an important part of memory and clarity during the day.
5. Irritability or Mood Swings
Lost sleep negatively impacts your emotional state.
You will probably notice how irritable you feel.
Sleep is when you recharge and rejuvenate.
Without enough sleep, your body is unprepared to meet a demanding schedule and your brain has to work harder just to function on a basic level.
Sleep loss can spark depression or anxiety.
6. Lowered Immune System
Sleep is directly related to your immune response system.
Consistent sleep will strengthen the immune system, while a lack of sleep can lead to sickness.
As we sleep, production of cytokines are increased and help reduce inflammatory responses and strengthen your adaptive immunity.
Some research even suggests that sleep can help your immune memory the same way it supports memory in the brain.
7. Increased Blood Sugar
Higher blood sugar can occur when you have not slept.
This can lead to increased weight gain, diabetes and even insomnia.
Sleeping longer will lower blood glucose levels
8. Lowered Libido
Libido can decrease with a lack of sleep.
A lowered libido can also be linked to increased stress.
In men, the lessened sex drive may be due to lowered levels of testosterone with lost sleep.
9. Aging Skin and Hair Loss
From dark circles to hair thinning, sleep can impact your physical appearance.
With lowered levels of sleep, your body is triggered to release more cortisol (the stress hormone).
This release of the stress hormone breaks down the collagen in your skin—the protein that gives skin its elasticity.
The loss in elasticity leads to premature wrinkles.
If your stress levels are higher from lost sleep, you may see increased hair shedding in 6-12 weeks.
During sleep is also when the growth hormone is released, a key part of tissue repair in the skin and increased growth for the hair.
10. Hypertension
Sleep deprivation can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Your heart has to work in overdrive when you don’t give it time to fully rest at night.
Your heartbeat slows to a resting rate as soon as you start to enter the first stage of non-REM sleep, reaching the lowest levels during stage 3 sleep.
During REM sleep, your heart rate will increase, but still not quite to waking levels.
Without the ability to drop to a healthy resting heart rate, the risk of near mortality is much higher.
11. Daytime Fatigue and Nausea
Have you ever woken up after not enough time and feel sick to your stomach?
You can be perfectly healthy and still feel nauseous if your body wasn’t in the right sleep stage.
You might also experience headaches, lightheadedness, dizziness tremors and body aches. Some call it the “insomnia hangover.”
SEEKING OUT SLEEP SUPPORT
There are a lot of mysteries behind why sleep is so crucial in supporting our bodies.
Science has found sleep impacts nearly every tissue and system within the body.
Even if we don’t fully understand why we need sleep, we can see the devastating impact a loss of sleep has on the body.
In order to get better sleep, turn off your devices at least an hour before laying down for bed.
Set up your schedule in a way that protects your times of sleep.
Drink water and avoid food close to bedtime to avoid any reflux issues that would disrupt sleep.
Keep your room a little cooler than the rest of the house and consider looping gentle music or sounds (like nature or white noise) in the background.
If you need help with improved sleep, the right supplements will make a huge difference.
Anointed Nutrition’s Sleep aid targets the systems of your body that might fight sleep.
Our Sleep supplement has the perfect blend for helping motivate a little shut-eye that continues through the whole night.
- Melatonin helps regulate sleep-wake cycles and the bio clock
- Lavender Oil is soothing and calming to your body
- Chamomile Oil increases hormones that improve mood and sleep
- GABA targets your brain to increase relaxation and promote sleep
- 5HTP increases amount of REM sleep you get and hormones that support
- Phosphatidylcholine supports memory and focus and is found throughout our body
With this powerful combination and our patented NanoZorb technology, you will experience the benefits of increased calmness, peacefulness and relaxation within minutes.
Your body needs sleep.
Order Anointed Nutrition Sleep today for the rest you need to take your day head-on and feel good about it.
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