You’ve likely had nights where you didn’t sleep well. A bad night of sleep usually leaves you cranky and not yourself. Also, a lack of sleep can make you feel tired, irritable, and lethargic. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation is a real problem, and it can affect your whole body and quality of life.
What is Sleep Deprivation?
Sleep deprivation occurs when you consistently do not get adequate or quality sleep. Unfortunately, it can cause health issues or chronic sleep disorders that can affect your entire body when you get less than seven hours of sleep regularly. Even worse, a lack of sleep over time could increase your risk of an early death.
Other than knowing you’re not getting enough of the recommended sleep, there are signs you may be sleep deprived, such as feeling tired all the time, yawning frequently, and irritability. Unfortunately, stimulants like caffeine aren’t enough to fix the problem. In fact, they can make the problem worse by making it harder to fall asleep.
Sleep deprivation can be categorized into three different types:
- Acute sleep deprivation – A short period of a few days or less when you significantly reduce sleep time.
- Chronic sleep deprivation – The American Academy of Sleep Medicine defines this as a lack of sleep time that persists for three months or more.
- Chronic sleep deficiency or insufficient sleep – Ongoing sleep deprivation with poor sleep quality due to disruptions and fragmented sleep.
The Effects of Lack of Sleep
Your body needs sleep, like air to breathe and food to function. Sleep affects almost every system in your body. Specifically, sleep helps repair and maintain your brain, heart, lungs, immunity, mood, and metabolism. Without enough sleep, you will not function properly both mentally and physically.
One of the hallmark signs of sleep deprivation is feeling extremely tired during the day. You may also feel drowsy and find it challenging to stay awake when needed. Sometimes, you may experience microsleeps, where you doze off for a very short time.
The lack of sleep can also affect how you feel during the day. You may notice slower thinking, reduced attention span, lack of energy, a change in mood, memory issues, and poor decision-making. Furthermore, these symptoms can become worse depending on how long you have been sleep-deprived.
- Coordination – Lack of sleep can affect your balance and coordination, increase your risk of accidents and injuries, and make you more prone to falling or other physical accidents.
- Health Issues – long-term effects of chronic sleep deprivation increase your risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, weight gain, low sex drive, and heart disease.
- Immune system – Your body’s natural defense against infections can’t work properly if you don’t get enough sleep. Too little sleep weakens your defenses and makes you more likely to get sick when exposed to germs.
- Memory Issues – Without sleep, your short- and long-term memory can be affected. Also, your concentration, problem-solving skills, and creativity may suffer.
- Mood – Sleep deprivation can make you emotional, moody, and quick-tempered. Long-term effects can lead to anxiety or depression.
Treating Sleep Deprivation
Although this may seem obvious, the most basic treatment is getting enough sleep, which is seven to nine hours each night for most people. Unfortunately, the obvious is not always the easiest. This is especially true when it’s been several weeks or more of sleep deprivation. If so, then you may have a sleep disorder.
Sleep disorders can make it difficult to get the sleep you need, as well as increase your risk of the effects of sleep deprivation. If you have been having issues sleeping, you should discuss it with your doctor. They can conduct a sleep study, have you keep a sleep journal, or use other options to measure your sleep quality to determine if you have a sleep disorder and the best course of action for you.
Preventing Sleep Deprivation
Unfortunately, sleep suffers first when choosing between sleep and work, fun activities, or other obligations. However, the best prevention is to make sleep a priority.
- Consistent sleep schedule – Try to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day, even on weekends. Stability helps avoid fluctuations in your sleeping pattern and provides a predictable pattern for your body’s rhythm.
- Set boundaries – Setting boundaries on your work and social life can help set aside enough time to get the rest you need.
- Have a bedtime routine – A consistent routine can help get your body ready to rest and help you sleep well each night.
- Avoid alcohol and caffeine – Excessive use can make it more difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep.
- Turn off electronic devices – TVs, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and computers can keep you stimulated, leaving you alert when you are trying to sleep. Furthermore, these devices can interfere with your circadian rhythm by emitting light that tricks your body into thinking it’s daytime when it’s not. Therefore, avoiding these devices at least an hour before bedtime is best.
- Stay active – Try to get sunlight exposure to support a healthy circadian rhythm that helps you stay awake and alert during the day and sleepy at night. Also, regular exercise can help maintain a normal sleep schedule.
The Takeaway
Sleep is critical to a healthy life. Getting enough sleep will keep you alert, refreshed, and ready to tackle the day. Unfortunately, it is easy to sacrifice your sleep time when work, fun, or other obligations present themselves. When you prioritize sleep less, you can become sleep deprived, affecting your physical and mental health. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to long-term and life-altering conditions. Fortunately, you can plan your days to include enough time to rest, stay active, and create a predictable sleep schedule.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your mood, sleep, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
