Sleeplessness a way to adverse health effects
Research provides strong evidence that you may be harming your health by restricting your sleep. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep on a regular basis increases your risk of several adverse health effects of sleeplessness.
- weight gain and obesity
- diabetes
- high blood pressure
- heart disease
- stroke
- depression
- impaired immune system
- increased risk of death
Sleeping less than 7 hours per night also can impair your performance. You have an increased risk of errors and accidents when you don’t get enough sleep each night.
Sleeplessness has a wide range of negative effects that go way beyond daytime drowsiness.Sleeplessness affects your judgment, coordination, and reaction times. In fact, sleep deprivation can affect you just as much as being drunk.
The adverse health effects of sleeplessness include fatigue, lethargy, difficulty concentrating, lack of motivation, moodiness and irritability. There may also be reduced creativity and problem-solving skills and inability to cope with stress. Physical health may also be affected through reduced immunity, frequent colds and infections, weight gain, increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.
The consequences of not getting enough sleep can be severe.Sleeplessness is associated with memory and cognitive impairment, decreased performance and alertness, increased risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and other chronic conditions, and increased risk for motor vehicle accidents. The signs of sleeplessness are fairly easy to recognize but often overlooked.
To risk giving you some news that may keep you up late at night, lack of sleep is potentially dangerous to your well-being. And not just serious sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, but merely not getting the prescribed 7-8 hours of sleep per night can be hazardous to your mental and physical health.
For those who don't get enough sleep because of insomnia or lifestyle, you need to take action. Just consider these two studies:
- Death rates from cardiovascular events doubled when workers decreased their regular sleep patterns from seven to five hours per night, according to a British study. These results persisted even after adjusting for other risk factors.
- Research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that men who had a night of short sleep took in 22% more calories than when they slept the recommended eight hours. The average calorie increase was about 560.
So lack of sleep can make you fatter and more susceptible to heart attacks. Unhealthy sleep patterns can also raise your risk of diabetes and depression.
