Many times, because of work or social commitments, we stay up late at night and sacrifice sleep. It might be that you have to meet a deadline or it’s your best friend’s birthday, because of which you did not sleep. This can affect physical, mental, and emotional aspects of your life and result in serious consequences. To know how sleep loss affects your functioning, read this blog!
What should you know about the effects of sleep loss?
- Sleepiness causes accidents:
When you are sleep-deprived, you may experience drowsiness and reduced focus. This is not good for your health as it can slow your reaction time, which can be very serious while driving. Reduced focus and more time to comprehend the situation when you are at the steering wheel can be the difference between life and death. Also, sleep loss can result in accidents and injuries at work.
- Sleep deprivation can cause serious health problems:
If you do not get a good night’s rest, it can put you at risk of several health problems. These can include heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, irregular heartbeat, and other conditions.
- Lack of sleep kills sex drive:
Experts suggest that sleep-deprived men and women have lower libidos which converts into lower sex drive. Depleted energy levels, feeling sleepy, and increased tension might be a reason behind the lower interest in sex.
- Sleep loss can make you dumb:
Sleep helps your brain rest and rejuvenate. But, when you do not get seven to nine hours of sleep, your thinking and learning processes are affected. This can impair your attention, alertness, reasoning, concentration, and problem-solving skills, making it difficult to learn efficiently.
Moreover, when sleeping, the brain consolidates memories that help you remember things. However, if you do not get enough sleep, you may not remember what happened during the day and forget everything.
- Sleepiness can lead to depression:
Sleep deprivation or sleep disorders are linked to depression. Experts have observed that people diagnosed with depression or anxiety are likely to rest for less than six hours.
A common sleep disorder like insomnia is strongly linked to depression. It was found that people with insomnia are five times more likely to have depression than those without. Insomnia is one of the first symbols of depression and both these conditions feed into each other.
- Sleep loss can age your skin:
If you have experience with sleepless nights, you might have experienced sallow skin and puffy eyes. However, if this continues for a long time, you may observe lacklustre skin, fine lines, and dark circles under the eyes. This might occur because not sleeping for enough hours causes the body to release cortisol in excess amounts. It can break down skin collagen, the protein responsible for keeping the skin smooth and supple.
Sleeping rejuvenates your mind and body so you can easily carry on with your day’s tasks. Besides inducing crankiness and exhaustion, sleep deprivation can also lead to other serious problems like lacklustre skin, increased chances of accidents, slow thinking, heart problems, and reduced sex drive, among others.