What Happens When You Are Deprived of Sleep?

It’s tough to get a good night’s sleep if you’re constantly feeling anxious or worried over some personal matter, or the neighbours may be keeping you awake at odd hours. However, if those sleepless nights occur frequently, it can cause detrimental effects to your health including impaired brain function, weight gain, and weakened immune system. So if you’re facing sleep deprivation, read on to find out the effects it can have on your life and body.

1) Increase in Stress

When you’re feeling stressed out about something, chances are, you’re probably constantly thinking about it which keeps you awake at night. Likewise, the lack of sleep will have you feeling stressed out as it increases the level of stress hormones in the body. This in turn causes point number 2 below.

2) Increased Risk for Hypertension

Due to high stress hormones levels in your body, this puts you at higher risk of having hypertension (developing high blood pressure). Evidently, some research has shown that being deprived of sleep can affect your blood pressure within 24 hours and in the long-term, it can lead to heart disease. Hence, if you’re getting less than 7 hours of good sleep, chances of developing high blood pressure has greatly increased.

3) Weight Gain

If you haven’t been sleeping well for at least 7 to 8 hours every night, you might have noticed that you’ve gained weight. This is because when your body is awake, it has a difficult time processing the protein leptin (regulator for metabolism and appetite), therefore slowing down your metabolism rate and increasing food cravings which causes weight gain.
Furthermore, being sleep deprived also makes it difficult for the body to process sugar, thus, increasing blood sugar levels and high chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

4) Impaired Brain Function and Memory

Lack of sleep can impair your memory because during the REM cycle of sleep, the brain organizes and consolidates your memories. So if you are not getting enough REM sleep, it can affect your ability to remember. Additionally, sleep deprivation can also impair functions of the brain for instance, your cognitive development, making decisions, and even learning simple tasks.

Bottom line is you need your beauty sleep in order to get your body well rested. And if you’re having sleep deprivation and experiencing those above-mentioned effects, it crucial for you to change your sleeping habits to avoid these consequences.

Cheers,
Jessy Lai Chai Yun (赖彩云)