Tag: Chronic Sleeplessness

The Ugly Truth About Sleep Deprivation

Sleep is a luxury. Many will agree with that premise. The more advanced our technology becomes, the more likely we are to lose sleep. It is a sad truth that we have learned to live with over the years. There are simply so many things that need to get done that we unconsciously put off our sleep and will ourselves to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning in our ruse of being more productive. In reality, we are doing more harm than good by depriving ourselves of precious sleep. It is not just the lost hours that we are talking about here, it is what you subject your body to endure. Are you even aware that chronic sleep deprivation does not just deprive you of sleep of essential oxygen needed by every single cell in your body? As a result, you become more prone to numerous diseases and afflictions like debilitating and deadly ones such as heart attack and stroke.

People these days like to portray being a night owl as something cool. Imagine going to all the coolest clubs and hotspots in the dead of the night when the supposedly uncool people are already tucked in bed fast asleep. Unfortunately, our body gradually suffers from each all-nighter we pull. There is a reason why we sleep at night and we are not about to start an argument on science about it. Sleep should is a restorative process that not only heals our bodies from the strain and stresses it had to put up with throughout the day but also to prepare it for what lies ahead tomorrow. But when you stay up all night long doing God knows what, you essentially miss out on the benefits of sleep and subject yourself to the dangers of chronic sleeplessness.

“We certainly know that a lack of sleep will actually prevent your brain from being able to initially make new memories, so it’s almost as though without sleep the memory inbox of the brain shuts down and you can’t commit new experiences to memory,” he says. 

However, that’s not the worst of it. Lack of sleep can also lead your brain to develop a greater concentration of beta amyloid, a toxic protein that’s linked to Alzheimer’s disease. 

“It is during deep sleep at night when a sewage system within the brain actually kicks into high gear and it starts to wash away this toxic protein, beta amyloid,” Walker explains.

“So if you’re not getting enough sleep each and every night, more of that Alzheimer’s-related protein will build up.

(Via: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/sleep-deprivation-video-effects-body-mind-human-health-cancer-alzheimers-dementia-brain-damage-a8153851.html)

Different parts of your body can feel the impact of sleep deprivation. Your body’s defenses go down the more nights you stay up thereby leaving your body unable to fend off pathogens and infections in case you are exposed to one. You easily get sick and feel sleepy, tired, and generally exhausted and irritated the whole day. You increase the risk of you developing and succumbing to certain diseases like cancer because again, your defenses are down and you did not give your body a chance to recharge by neglecting sleep when you were supposed to be sleeping soundly in bed at night.

He describes how lack of sleep creates problems with anger and violence control, and is linked with “aggression, bullying and behavioural problems”. What was that I remember about Donald Trump living on just four hours of sleep a night?

And for more gory detail than you would probably like, sleep starvation also massively compromises a man’s testicles, virility and testosterone levels: “The hormonal blunting effect (of lack of sleep) is so large that it effectively ages a man by 10-15 years in terms of testosterone virility.” Sperm counts are on average 29 per cent lower than for men who sleep better.

(Via: http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2127905/wake-its-time-stop-treating-sleep-deprivation-badge-honour)

Saying that sleeplessness is an epidemic is more of an understatement. It is an epidemic we gladly put ourselves in without having second thoughts as to its repercussions in the coming years. Don’t be a victim of this mentality and learn to care for yourself first because you only have one body to last you a lifetime. The truth is, your lifetime and the quality of your life depends on how well you take care of your body and that includes adopting a regular sleeping schedule and sticking to it religiously aside from practicing a healthy lifestyle overall. If you happen to suffer from a sleep disorder, head to the doctor right away. Don’t simply shrug it off as a mere inconvenience but think of it as the medical condition that it is.

Sleep apnea, for instance, poses more danger than we like to acknowledge and we are not just focusing on the annoying snoring sound these people makes. If you haven’t seen a doctor yet for whatever reasons, protect yourself from more harm by using anti-snoring mouthpieces such as https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx that not just reduces the snoring sound but address the anatomical problem to prevent breathing gaps that characterizes sleep apnea. CPAP isn’t a popular choice for patients and here’s why https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/why-a-cpap-machine-is-probably-not-for-you.

Why Sleep Health Continues To Deteriorate

People often sacrifice sleep in pursuit of other life priorities thinking they can always catch up on lost sleep once they meet their deadline or when they have the time. But more often than not that time never really comes and you end up compromising your health because of passing interests. The human body does not work that way. You’ll never catch up on all the slumber you lost mainly because you can’t turn back time and there are new tasks and responsibilities that will demand your attention. Your body gradually suffers if you constantly deprive yourself of sleep and you’ll feel its consequences over time.

It’s no longer a mystery why you end up putting off sleep much later when all around you there are tech distractions meant to take your time away every single day (or night). Sleep deprivation is a growing concern in the medical field because people miss out on the many restorative properties of sleep that are meant to let your body rest and relax but rejuvenate too. You don’t need any magical formula or discover the fountain of youth for long life. Just make sure you eat right, exercise, and get plenty of sleep. That’s all your body needs. If you can’t stop yourself from constantly fidgeting with your smartphone and clicking on links after links after links on social media, then you have a problem and only you can solve it.

“Many of us are working more erratic hours and sleeping less, while the pace of our lives seems to be accelerating,” said Owen in a statement. “We know that this sleep disruption affects us in some ways and that some people feel the impact more than others, but there’s surprisingly little research into exactly how our brains deal with these sleep deficits.”

In particular, Owen said, researchers hope to glean new answers to questions including how sleep and sleep deprivation affect specific regions of the brain, how much sleep is enough, and how brain health is affected by sleep deprivation in the short- and long-term.

“We have the opportunity in this study to learn far more about the brain’s response to sleep than we have ever had before. And what we learn ultimately has the potential to change how millions of people go about their daily lives.”

(Via: http://globalnews.ca/news/3557137/western-study-to-look-at-how-sleep-sleep-deprivation-affects-the-brain/)

Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to clumsiness, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and weight issues. So if you suddenly experience some weight gain or weight loss issues, don’t just blame your eating habits right away. Aside from that, sleep deprivation impairs brain function and attention that may consequently affect performance and cognitive function. Although it is understandable to miss out on a good night’s sleep now and then, don’t make it a habit of doing it every single night because you will regret it big time.

Sleep deprivation is linked to a variety of serious health problems, including heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It stresses you out because your body overproduces the stress hormone cortisol when it’s sleep deprived. While excess cortisol has a host of negative health effects that come from the havoc it wreaks on your immune system, it also makes you look older, because cortisol breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic. In men specifically, not sleeping enough reduces testosterone levels and lowers sperm count.

Too many studies to list have shown that people who get enough sleep live longer, healthier lives, but I understand that sometimes this isn’t motivation enough. So consider this—not sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake. When you sleep less you eat more and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and makes it harder for you to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. People who sleep less than 6 hours a night are 30% more likely to become obese than those who sleep 7 to 9 hours a night.

(Via: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sleep-deprivation-is-killing-you-and-making-you-fat_us_594c1d77e4b0f078efd97fe0)

Modern life is like living in the fast lane. We seldom have time to pause and take our time to enjoy the view and breathe the flowers. We try to multitask to the best of our abilities at the expense of our health because we feel that we are invincible. But if you look around you now, you’ll see that younger people get diagnosed with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease in their thirties or even younger than people did in the past. It’s our lifestyle that is catching up to us. You’ll be spending less time here on earth if you don’t slow down and take the time to rest and look after your body.

People often blame technology for their chronic sleeplessness but at times it can be a sleep disorder you totally have no control of. To understand better, think of sleep apnea. It’s not just that awful snoring sound you should be worried of but the dangerous breathing pauses in your slumber as your brain chooses between sleep and oxygen. To save yourself and your sanity from the negative effects of sleep deprivation, try some of the handy anti-snoring mouthpieces sold on the market today like https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution or https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx that may not be as effective as CPAP but does the job of reducing the snoring and preventing the breathing pauses by correcting certain inborn anatomical deformities that predisposes you to sleep apnea.