sick and exhausted

Not Getting Enough Sleep?

Often wondered why you feel tired sometimes, maybe even all the time? Since the invention of the light bulb people sleep much less, approximately 500 hours a year, or 1.25 hours a day.

While the exact mechanism of sleep and how it impacts our brain function is still a bit foggy, it is clear from science that sleep is one of the body’s most important processes.

Sleep seems important for cellular renewal whereby dead cells are replaced while asleep as well as being important for the brain to process information and to archive information, including memories, in much the same way as defraying a computer clears up computer function.

See also on this website Brains replay memories while asleep and store the highlights and Sleep and madness linked

Deep REM sleep appears to stimulate those parts of the brain required in learning.

Every night spent without adequate sleep builds up a sleep debt that eventually needs to be repaid.

Over time sleep deprivation can result in difficulties with concentration, blurry vision and impaired judgement, while severe sleep deprivation can result in hallucinations, mania and nausea.

Usually getting a good night’s sleep alleviates these symptoms but chronic sleep deprivation (such as night shift workers such as doctors and nurses, or mothers with newborn or sick children), may require longer periods of sleeping.

Often when people go on holidays they are surprised at how much they simply want to sleep, to just relax, and this is an indicator of long term sleep deprivation. So sleep when you can.

Short term effects

Studies have shown that not sleeping can reduce glucose metabolism by as much as 40%.

Sleep deprived athletes experience, high levels of the stress hormone cortisol as wells lower levels of human growth hormone which helps muscle repair.

People who are sleep deprived tend to be more susceptible to infections.

[Given the sleep deprivations associated with menopause, perhaps this is linked to the high rates of breast cancer among menopausal women?]

See also on this website Not Enough Sleep Connected to Cancer and A good night’s sleep a defence against colds

Children who get less sleep than their peers do not perform as well in test of attention and memory.

Recent research has also shown that every hour a child is awake past 9pm is measurable in terms of scores in tests, even 3-4 days later.

(This study was based on children staying up late on a Saturday night, as a treat, yet scoring lower test results on the following Tuesday than their peers who went to bed earlier.)

In 2000 researchers showed that driving after not having slept for 19 hours was the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol reading of .05, the legal limit in most parts of Australia, yet few would consider being tired as being a reason not to drive a short distance home late at night.

Another study showed that sleep deprived medical interns were twice as likely to misdiagnose medical symptoms.

Long term effects

As sleep is important for regulation of blood sugar levels, and sleep deprived people become increasingly insulin-resistant, sleep can also increase risks of type 2 diabetes.

As it also has an important effect on the hunger and appetite hormones ghrelin and leptin, lack of sleep has been linked to obesity (see Sleep and lose weight) so lack of sleep is also connected to heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression.

While feeling tired in the morning of itself does not indicate you are sleep deprived, sleep exerts say that if you feel groggy, in need of naps during the day or fall asleep as soon as your head touches the pillow, then you may be sleep deprived.

As everyone is different, some people manage very well of 5 hours a night, others 8, and either may or may not be sleep deprived.

So pay attention to your sleeping habits and if you feel tired, go to bed! Maybe just stay in bed on days off instead of trying to maximise your off-time by trying got pack as many things into your weekend as possible.

Taken by Mark O’Brien from The Stunning Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep By Allison Ford

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