10 Scariest Side Effects of Sleeplessness &Sleep Deprivation
We have all felt the sting of a poor night’s sleep. With endlessly busy lives full of forty hour
work weeks, carpools, dentist appointments, school, family, friends, and so much more, it isnearly impossible to avoid late nights and early mornings. But there is no doubt that prolongedsleeplessness can have some very serious and very negative effects on our bodies and our minds.More and more often, individuals with chronic sleeplessness are turning to prescription sleepmedications for aid. Prescription sleeping pills have increased in sale by over 60 percent in thelast decade according to a 2006
New York Times
article.With pharmacists filling more
prescriptions for sleep aid and more and more individuals complaining of sleeplessness, concernsabout the health risks of both sleeping pills and sleeplessness have elevated drastically. Thefollowing lists the 10 most severe and dangerous side effects sleeplessness can have:1.
:While sleeplessness has not been proven to actually
cause
death, there are severalfactors involved with insomnia and poor sleeping habits that may. Those who suffer fromsleeplessness are significantly more likely to turn to alcohol abuse and substance abuse.Moreover, individuals who regularly get little to no sleep are far more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. With the combination of alcohol and controlled substances
and
depression, insomnia can have some very dire consequences. Generally, experts believe that the body would merely shut down and sleep, before an individual wouldactually die from not sleeping. However, there has been very little research actually performed around this hypothesis because the experiment is just too dangerous.2.
:One of the most troublesome side effects of severe sleep deprivation is psychosis. When an individual suffers from psychosis they are often described as havinga complete break from reality. They may experience personality changes or hallucinations. When associated with sleep deprivation, psychosis is usually onlytemporary, but it can lead to some very serious issues. Accompanied by psychosis anindividual may experience severe depression and anxiety as well. These conditionsdrastically impair an
individual’s ability to perform everyday tasks and worsen anindividual’s quality of life.
3.
:It is no secret that obesity rates throughout America have escalated into a huge problem in recent years. Many health experts are calling the current obesity trendthroughout the country an epidemic. Several studies preformed over that past decadehave shown that individuals who sleep less are more likely to overeat and, therefore,more likely to become obese. Furthermore, stress and depression (two side effects of
sleeplessness) have been shown to contribute to an individual’s weight gain. Obesity is a
very dangerous condition. Experts have calculated that obesity is not only moreexpensive for both the country and an individual than smoking cigarettes, but is alsomore deadly than smoking cigarettes. While (of course) one night of not sleeping will notmake you obese, a constant lifestyle of sleeping too little may.4.
:Numerous studies have shown that a person suffering from sleepdeprivation is much more susceptible to developing Type 2 Diabetes than a person whogets an adequate amount of sleep each night. It is important to note, however, that this
result is only associated with chronic insomnia, not just poor sleeping habits. Type 2Diabetes is a very serious condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It isassociated with several other debilitating conditions as well, including hypertension, highcholesterol, blindness, kidney failure, obesity, and many more.5.
:Lack of sleep affects almost all aspects of our
physiological and psychological health. Sleeplessness has a negative effect on our body’s
ability to heal itself. In other words, insomnia and frequent sleepless nights may lead to a
decrease in your immune system’s ability to function
properly. A weakened immunesystem (as one might imagine) can lead to several very serious complications. For example, in the study linked to above, individuals who received less than seven hours of sleep a night were almost three times more likely to develop the common cold than thosewho received eight or more hours of sleep. Even more worrisome, a weakened immunesystem can lead to chronic disease and severe infections. Several studies have put forthdata that suggests a link between the production of disease-fighting cells (white bloodcells) and adequate sleep.6.
:Another serious side effect insomnia can have is memory loss. It iswidely known that sleep is the time during which our brains process all the informationthat we have gathered during the day. It is during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stageof sleep that our brain processes this information and stores it as memory. Individualswho do not get an adequate amount of sleep at night will not enter the REM stages of sleep as often and, therefore, will not be capable of storing as many memories. Memory
loss can affect several different aspects of an individual’s life, including their personal
relationships as well as their ability to think and learn. While it is known that sleepdeprivation has negative cognitive consequences, the mechanisms by which sleepdeprivation affects brain function remains fairly unknown to scientists.7.
:One of the more serious side effects of sleeplessness is the effectsthat it can have on natural hormone levels in the body. Scientists have observed that lack of sleep can suppress certain growth hormones that are naturally produced in the body.These growth hormones help promote a balanced reaction to stressors of the immunesystem, sex drive, and mood. This means that individuals suffering from sleeplessnessmay feel that they are losing self control. Researchers have observed low levels of melatonin in individuals suffering from insomnia, which regulates the sleep-wake cyclein humans by chemically causing drowsiness. Also, many studies have noticed acorrelation between sleeplessness and elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol.8.
:We can probably agree that trying to concentrate after getting
a poor night’s sleep
can be extremely difficult. Everyday endless numbers of people bothyoung and old stumble out of bed and consume outrageous amounts of caffeine in order to stay awake and alert throughout the day. While decreased concentration is one of thetamer side effects of sleep deprivation, it can have some very dire consequences. Poor concentration due to lack of sleep can (and has) led to several automobile accidents.Every year, it is estimated that there are more than 50,000 adolescents who are involvedin car accidents caused by lack of sleep. However, because sleep deprivation cannot bemeasured posthumously, it is impossible to determine whether it is a factor in accidentswhen the driver does not survive.9.
:While it isn’t all that difficult to believe that chronic pain may cause someone to
have trouble sleeping, many researchers believe that lack of sleep may actually
cause
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10 Scariest Side Effects of Sleeplessness
Orthodox monks generally sleep 6 1/2 hours a day: 4 hours before vigil & church; 2 1/2 hours afterward.
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