Nowadays, sleep deprivation became a common issue all over the world. Millions of people experience difficulties getting enough sleep. In addition, lack of sleep can lead to various negative outcomes, such as low mood, fatigue, irritability, as well as to many serious diseases. Consequently, understanding the importance of adequate sleep is crucial. The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Functions To begin with, one should pay special attention to the connection between sleep and brain work and cognitive functions. Our brain processes and consolidates our memory at night. In their study in the journal _Sleep_, authors claim that participants who were deprived of sleep performed worse at tasks of attention and memory than rested participants. In other words, receiving 4-6 hours of sleep daily negatively influences our ability to concentrate and remember information.
Furthermore, sleep deprivation can cause a range of problems, including accidents, injuries, etc. For example, NHTSA reports that there are 100,000 car crashes caused by sleep deprivation in the USA annually, resulting in 1,550 fatalities. In this way, getting enough sleep is crucial as it can help to prevent dangerous accidents. Sleep and Your Mood Adequate amount of sleep is also vital regarding your mood and mental state. Sleep deprivation causes irritability, stress, and even depression in some cases. Specifically, according to the recent study in the journal _Psychosomatic Medicine_, sleep-deprived people tend to suffer from depression twice more often than others. The thing is that during sleep, our body regulates our mood since it lowers our level of stress hormones, such as cortisol.
In addition, sleep-deprived people often experience stress and anxiety. For example, researchers from UCLA discovered that people who receive no more than 5-7 hours of sleep daily become much more stressed than those who rest for 7 hours. This means that getting less than 7-9 hours of sleep raises the risk of having an anxiety disorder significantly. Sleep and Your Cardiovascular System One can assume that sleep is necessary only for brain activity and mental health. Nevertheless, sleep plays an extremely important role in regulating cardiovascular system. While we sleep, our body undergoes the process of restoring itself – immune system becomes healthy again, muscle mass develops, and damaged parts of the body start repairing.
As a result, lack of sleep can cause many cardiovascular diseases. In particular, sleep deprivation can increase your chances of having cardiovascular disorders by 30%. The reason for that lies in the fact that sleep controls such processes as heart rate, blood pressure, and the level of inflammation. This means that not getting enough sleep daily can cause many health issues. In addition, sleep deprivation has a direct impact on blood pressure level. According to the study conducted by UCLA scientists, blood pressure level was much higher among sleep-deprived people than among rested participants. The results show that people who slept 4-6 hours daily had 20% chances to suffer from high blood pressure level. Impact of Sleep on Our Immune System Another issue to discuss is the relation between sleep deprivation and work of our immune system. While sleeping, our body produces cytokines that help us to fight off viruses and other diseases. Recent research proves that sleep deprivation weakens our immune system.
Specifically, Sleep magazine claims that people who receive less than 7-9 hours of sleep daily are vulnerable to many diseases. Furthermore, lack of sleep affects metabolic rate of our body and causes many diseases. As was mentioned above, sleep plays an important role in maintaining our hormonal level. This means that people who get less than 7 hours of sleep have a higher chance to suffer from obesity and diabetes. For instance, UCLA researchers prove that sleep-deprived people have a higher level of insulin resistance. Benefits of Getting Enough Sleep Despite the fact that sleep deprivation causes many negative outcomes, getting enough sleep brings numerous advantages. Among them are:
Improved cognitive functions and memory
Better mood and less stress
Good cardiovascular system condition
Immune system support
Physical skills enhancement and prevention of injuries
Several tips on how to get enough sleep:
Try to go to bed and wake up every day simultaneously
Create a comfortable sleeping environment
Stop using electronic devices at least 30 minutes prior to sleep
Practice relaxing activities before going to bed
Avoid exercising and watching TV at night
Conclusion
To conclude, one should say that sleep deprivation has become a common issue nowadays. Lack of sleep causes many health problems, influencing our health, cognitive functions, and mental state. That is why one needs to take care of his/her sleep and get at least 7-9 hours of sleep daily.
