There might be a couple of days when you might not have been able to get adequate sleep. It goes without saying that you will feel a little heavy, but if the routine persists, it can pose multiple health issues which can escalate over time.
Lack of sleep over extended periods of time not just takes a toll on your mental health, but it also catches up with physical health too. From a vulnerable immune system to multiple other health concerns such as weight gain, it’s never good news if you lose sleep over anything, literally!
The long-term side effects of inadequate sleep are just too intense to ignore, which is why it’s crucial to understand the drawbacks of low sleep.
Have a look.
1. Cognitive Impairment
Cognitive impairment refers to describing issues associated with a person’s thinking, learning, and decision-making abilities.
Memory Problems
Sleep is crucial to bring the memories together, and it is during sleep that the brain transfers the information from short-term to long-term memory. Lack of sleep makes this process of retrieving information difficult.
The hippocampus too, which is responsible for memory processing in the brain, becomes less active with inadequate sleep. This makes it difficult for you to remember things.Poor Concentration
Lack of sleep also impacts the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area responsible for functions related to attention. As a result, it becomes difficult to ensure proper focus on tasks for long periods of time.
Because lack of sleep prohibits the filtering of irrelevant stimuli from the brain, concentration takes a big hit in the process.
Slow Reaction Time
With the brain’s ability to process information compromised, the neural circuits responsible for a quick response become impaired, leading to slower reaction time.
The motor (physical) movements of the body also suffer with less sleep, which can lead to incidents like accidents because of slow body responses.
2. Emotional and Mental Health Consequences
Because lack of sleep impacts the brain scientifically, the mental and emotional health consequences also become visible over time.
Increased Irritability
Sleep is related to emotional well-being, and not getting enough sleep leads to a short-tempered nature, where you get easily irritated. The frequency of getting irritated also increases, spoiling your overall mental peace as well.
Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are two major health concerns, and low sleep can alleviate these issues if left unchecked. Insufficient sleep can induce the feeling of dread, fear, and hopelessness, which are significant contributors to anxiety and depressive thoughts.
All of this leads to stress, further hampering your sleep cycle.
3. Physical Health Effects
Not just mental and physical, but lack of sleep also negatively impacts your physical health in a lot of ways.
Weakened Immune System
While sleeping, the body produces cytokines, which are protein compounds assisting in combating inflammation and infections. Lack of sleep reduces the production of these compounds, making the body open to infections.
Increased Risk of Heart Disease
Sleep deprivation is also linked to increased blood pressure, which strains the cardiovascular system in the process. The blood vessel function also struggles in the process, negatively impacting the endothelium, the lining for blood vessels.
Weight Gain and Obesity
Disruption in ghrelin levels, the hormone responsible for inducing hunger, has been linked to irregular sleeping patterns, where irregular eating habits can lead to obesity and weight gain. The energy levels also become low, reducing motivation for physical activity.
4. Poor Performance and Productivity
Lack of sleep affects multiple aspects in the workplace too, hampering your performance in the process.
Reduced Work Efficiency
The brain’s ability to store and process information gets hampered with lack of sleep. As a result, this decreased cognitive function affects work-related activities, such as analyzing data and problem-solving.
Physical Endurance Decline
Because sleep is crucial for proper restoration and recovery of muscles, lack of it impacts body strength, leading to a reduction in overall physical performance. It also slows down reaction times, reducing physical agility, which makes completing simple physical tasks too, a tough nut to crack.
Impaired Judgement
Evaluating risks and taking decisions based on those risks gets hit with the lack of sleep. If you are sleep-deprived, then chances are high that you will take decisions that are more impulsive and high on risk. In complex situations, this cognitive bias can prove to be detrimental in the overall scheme of things.
5. Long-term Health Risks
Chronic sleep deprivation has been known to have a huge impact on the body and long-term health, leading to the occurrence of serious medical health conditions, leading to a reduced lifespan in the process.
Here’s how lack of sleep leads to long-term health risks.
Chronic Diseases
Inadequate sleep can lead to the development and progression of various chronic diseases over time. Obesity, diabetes, mental health issues, and other cardiovascular diseases can make their impact with the lack of sleep.
Shortened Lifespan
Depriving yourself of proper sleep over a long time can have a significant impact on your lifespan. Many studies have shown that a lack of sleep has the potential to bring premature health into effect.
This is not just because of reduced cognitive capacity that could lead to fatal accidents, but also because less sleep accelerates the ageing process, slowing down the repair of muscles and tissue. Diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s have also been linked with less sleep as their main causes.
Conclusion
Lack of adequate sleep has a lot of negative impacts on human health, and most of them are quite alarming. The consequences of less sleep are significant, and while we always know that it’s not us that wish for lack of sleep, sometimes even something as simple as a pillow can hamper peaceful sleep.
This is where a good memory foam pillow is a brilliant product for you. With amazing quality and perfect ergonomics, Sleepmate products are just what you need to have a look at. You can visit our website and get yourself some amazing items for the perfect sleep.
