4 Surprising Health Effects Due To Lack of Sleep. If you often spend your night turning and tossing, it is no surprise how you feel the next day — cranky, tired, and out of sorts. But missing out on the advised 8 to 9 hours of shut-eye in the night can do more than make you feel grumpy and groggy. The long-term health effects of sleep deprivation are real and critical.
It puts your physical health and mental abilities at real risk. Inadequate sleeping has linked with all types of health problems, from a weakened immune system, weight gain to many other chronic health risks. Not getting enough sleep might also increase the risk of car accidents, certain cancers, and diabetes.
If you are a part of this no-sleep category, you’re not alone, 50 to 70 million people in the US experience one or other sleep disorder. Here are some of the common health risks that can occur due to lack of sleep:
Cancer Risk
Shortened sleep is often associated with higher rates of colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. According to stats, between the years 2005 and 2008, 1200 women diagnosed with breast cancer. This is also true in the case of overnight shift workers for both men and women. However, those who slept seven or more hours can develop the best mortality rates, unlike those who slept 4-5 hours.
Sickness and Depression
Over time, lack of sleep can become one of the reasons for depression. In addition, depression can further aggravate the mental illness. On the other side, improper sleep can impair your ability to fight off illness and make you feel tired and sick often.
You could even lose some extra power nap while your body fights off bugs on your ages-old mattress if you haven’t had enough shut-eye. Your bedding needs to be comfortable and supportive to give you sound sleep so that you wake up happy in the morning. Check your mattress and other bedding accessories if they provide you enough comfort. If not, you can buy a new mattress from Southern California mattress superstores and enjoy your nighttime sleep with the utmost ease.
Thinking Issues
Missing one night of sleep can disturb your sleeping schedule, which can lead to some major cognition issues. This usually happens with college students, employees who work the night shift, or a night owl.
Further, brain functions, including decision-making, memory, reasoning, and problem-solving, can be worsened, along with alertness and reaction time. Not only a missed night of sleep slows downs your thinking process, but also impacts your learning and memory.
Thus, sleep is critical to the process of developing the things we store in our brain. In other words, proper rest locks in new data and commits it to memory.
Heart Health Risks
Both short sleep durations and prolonged sleep durations can have a negative impact on heart health. Your possibilities of developing heart disease or having a cardiac arrest are significantly increased with less sleep.
Sleep impacts processes that keep your blood vessels healthy, including your blood pressure, blood sugar, and inflammation levels. It also plays a crucial role in your body’s ability to repair the circulatory system.
Conclusion
Getting sound sleep isn’t just right for your skin, but it could save your life.
Consider all the above health factors you might be risking before you continue that late-night internet surfing marathon. Then, turn off the lights and enjoy your 7 to 8 hours of health, beauty, and rest!