9 Effects of Sleep Deprivation

Most of you who are reading this post will know what sleep deprivation feels like. To wake-up and still feel tired and then for that feeling to remain with you for most of the day, if not all of it. It's not just this feeling of tiredness that is of consequence of sleep deprivation but also many other things. Here's some of the effects that a lack of sleep can bring.

1. Behaviour

Sleep has a direct effect on behaviour. Often when you have a young child and they're crying or playing-up they're normally just tired and so their behaviour becomes worse. It's not only young children who can suffer from bad behaviour as sleep deprivation can effect people of all ages.

When your body stays awake for extended periods of time, regeneration and maintenance of certain parts of the body, such as the brain, begins to falter. It is this incomplete-regeneration/re-charge of the brain through sleeping that has the impact on behaviour and will worsen a persons behaviour.

2. Concentration

Concentration is another thing that is substituted for tiredness.When you can feel your tiredness hanging over you throughout the day you know that you wont be able to concentrate properly because all you want to do is go to sleep. Your body is having to use more energy than usual (when you're not sleep deprived) to keep you going and so other functions like concentration for instance, will see a decline. 

Here's another post of mine: 6 Benefits of Concentration.

3. Head Aches

If you don't like headaches then don't skip sleep as it has been shown that having a lack of sleep can actually bring them on. If you're someone that suffers from chronic headaches/migraines then make sure that you get enough sleep.

4. Weakened Immune System 

Hate colds, coughs, the flu, and other infections and illnesses? I thought so. Well not getting the sleep that your body needs will actually have a negative effect on the immune system, and immune functions that help to fight against illness and infection will start to diminish making you a lot more susceptible to them.  

5. Increased Blood Pressure

Another negativity of sleep deprivation is an increased blood pressure which in itself can bring on many unwanted illnesses and problems.

If you want to read more on high blood pressure then here's the link: Reduce High Blood Pressure.

6. Depression

Another thing about sleep deprivation is that it can lead to depression. This is as regular tiredness will bring your mood down and behaviour (as discussed in point #1), and then when you've reached this level, not getting enough sleep can lower your state even further until it reaches the lower levels of depression, and this is another thing that can bring about some more individual problems. You'd be surprised how much better you can feel when you're getting enough sleep.

7. Memory Loss

This may sound like a bit on the extreme side but tiredness really can have an effect upon memory. Sleep is very necessary for the cognitive functions of the brain and making sure that they are healthy, and it is something that helps us with remembering and recalling information. However, when we don't get enough sleep then the cognitive functions of the brain don't function as-well and will cause our ability to remember and learn new things a lot harder than it should be. 

8. Weight Gain

Many sleep deprived nights may also be contributing to your waistline. Your bodies natural calorie burner comes in the form of your metabolism and it is this that burns the vast majority of your calories. Your body needs sleep so that it can process hormones that aid in the maintenance of your metabolic rate and your appetite. When you don't get enough sleep your body will find it more and more difficult to use these hormones to mange metabolism and appetite which will only add to the waist. 

If you're are struggling with weight and are wanting to lose some pounds, then here's a previous post of mine: How to Lose Weight.

9. Type-2 Diabetes

As discussed in point #7, when your body doesn't get the sleep that it needs it will find it harder to process the hormones needed to regulate bodily functions such as metabolic rate. Well another bodily function that will see a cutback in regulation is sugar processing. And it's this, your body not being able to properly process sugar, that can lead to type-2 diabetes.

Conclusion

It's also interesting to note that if we live by a sleep-deprived life, even though we may feel okay because our bodies have gotten used to sleep deprivation, our bodies will require more and more sleep. So in a sense we're getting into debt with our bodies every time we don't get enough sleep. I do hope that this post has highlighted some key points to keep in mind when it comes to sleep.