To give an energetic start to your day, it is essential to have a good sleep in the preceding night. The hectic schedules and stressful lifestyles are the major causes of sleep deprivation. People are likely to be hooked to their screens in their bed till late but have to stick to their morning schedules.
It also causes further sleep deprivation, and you start your day grumpy and groggy.
If you can relate yourself to all this, you are a victim of sleep deprivation. If this deprivation is for a while, it will not yield any severe consequences. But prolonged sleep deprivation is as drastic as leading to a brain stroke or even heart failure.
Tools like sleep calculators are considered effective in tracking your sleep patterns. Using this sleep calculator, you know the best time to sleep and wake up, depending on your lifestyle and activity level.
If you are unaware of the ill-effects of prolonged sleep deprivation, let’s discuss them in detail:
Diabetes
Various studies support that people with inadequate sleeping experience disruption in glucose processing in their bodies. It leads to an imbalance between the stored glucose in their body cells and insulin production, resulting in the development of Type2 Diabetes.
Hypertension
The studies show that people sleeping less than 5 to 6 hours every night are at a higher risk of hypertension. Sleep is essential to regulate the stress hormone in our body. The lack of sleep amplifies the effects of stress, thus disturbing the balance.
When you are deprived of sleep for a longer time, you tend to develop hypertension, a higher heart rate, and inflammation. The elevated blood pressure levels put unnecessary strain on your heart.
Obesity and weight gain
Rapid weight gain is one of the expected outcomes of deprived sleep. A hormone called cortisol increases when you don’t get sleep, responsible for managing your anxiety and stress.
As your stress levels are elevated due to inadequate production of cortisol, you tend to be irritated and frustrated. Many people follow unhealthy diets and emotional eating to reduce their stress levels.
Ghrelin is another hormone that your body produces in exceeding levels in your stomach. The excess levels of Ghrelin make you feel hungrier, and you end up eating more.
Not only your eating habits but inadequate sleeping patterns also hamper your body’s metabolism. As you often feel tired, you have cravings for unhealthy food to uplift your mood. There is also a considerable decrease in your physical activity and stamina, attributing to higher obesity.
When you are exhausted and at unrest, you are likely to choose foods rich in sugars and carbohydrates. And the increased amount of unhealthy eating combined with a decreased amount of physical activities leads to quick weight gain.
Depression and Anxiety
When you remain irritated and frustrated over a more extended period due to inadequate sleep, you develop anxiety and depression. Studies show that the loss of motivation and clinical depression is associated with long-term sleep deprivation.
Your body produces an inadequate level of melatonin due to sleep deprivation resulting in a bad mood and depression. People who have insomnia and clinical depression have lower levels of melatonin.
When you suffer from a chronic sleep disorder, your stress tolerance goes down terribly, and you are prone to anxiety attacks.
Decreased Fertility
Low libido levels are associated with deprived sleep as well. It has a devastating effect on the men and women who are planning pregnancy. Part of the brain controlling circadian rhythms also produces the reproductive hormone – testosterone responsible for fertility.
Deprived levels of sleep lower down the testosterone level in your body along with the hormones triggering ovulation. These factors hamper conception.
Memory Loss
The brain needs time to rest and organize itself for transferring short-term memory to long-term memory. Inadequate sleep puts unnecessary stress on your brain and makes it over-exhausted. For an adequate recall, it is crucial to sleep well.
Only one night of restful sleep can benefit people suffering from memory loss.
Psychiatric Disorders
Extreme sleep disorders are associated with several psychiatric disorders such as hallucinations, disorientation, and paranoia. Often people confuse these disorders with schizophrenia.
As brain capability is seriously hampered with prolonged sleep deprivation, you are more likely to develop psychiatric disorders in a quick phase.
Immune system deficiency
When we sleep well, the immune system in our body works at its best. Higher stress levels, unhealthy eating patterns, hormonal imbalance, and unnecessary stress to your vital body organs threaten your immune system. It makes your body vulnerable to even common viruses like the cold.
Faulty Brain function
As we have already discussed, the unnecessary strain that inadequate sleep levels put on your brain adversely impacts brain functions. Mental fatigue leads to lower concentration levels and a sharp decline in mental alertness and other brain functions.
Heart Stroke and Attack
Sleep deprivation primarily impacts various parts of the brain that control the circulatory system. It is also responsible for body inflammation. Together these factors lead to blood clot development leading to heatstroke.
With several health issues, the ill effects of sleep deprivation form a vicious circle of several health issues. Once trapped, it becomes difficult to get out of it. It is recommended to get 8 hours of sound sleep every night to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle.
If you sleep well, you are likely to be physically active and lead a healthy life. However, the stressful lifestyle and hectic schedules often let us skip this critical aspect.
A sleep calculator is an effective way to keep track of your sleeping patterns. It is based on calculating the adequate sleep cycles you should complete in your recommended sleep schedule. One sleep cycle lasts for 90 minutes.
Getting asleep between 7 to 9 hours lets you complete 5-6 sleep cycles every night. However, there are several factors such as your lifestyle, medical conditions, age, etc. that determine how many hours you should sleep each night.
As most of us strive for a healthy lifestyle, it is essential to sleep adequately to avoid sleep deprivation.