The bedtime is the time when our body takes rest and carries out vital repair or rejuvenation tasks. This is the time of sleep which contributes to the body's healing process. But today's stressful life has decreased the hours of sleep to a considerable extent. People are getting lesser hours of sleep and this is affecting their activities in the next day. Getting inadequate sleep has long term consequences as well. Following are the effects of inadequate sleep:
- Drowsiness: At certain points of the day, you would experience drowsiness. This would be intense during the afternoon after you have lunch. If you are in the office and in the midst of some important task, then drowsiness can come in the way of your mental awareness and concentration. Reducing your nighttime sleep by as little as one and a half hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32 percent.
- Immunity Issues: The immune system of your body suffers weakening on account of inadequate sleep. Poor sleep is associated with reduced number of T-cells, white blood cells that help the body fight disease. Many studies show that people who don't get a good night's sleep or who don't get enough sleep (sleeping under seven hours a night) are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as the common cold.
- Weight Gain: When you get less sleep, you crave for high sugar foods which contain refined carbohydrates, possibly because of the disruption of hormones that regulate appetite. These foods have no nutritional value and can only add to the fat content of your body. An analysis of nearly 10,000 adults as part of a large study found that those between the ages of 32 and 49 who sleep less than seven hours a night are significantly more likely to be obese. These sugary foods also contribute to the erratic behavior of your blood sugar levels. In 2005, a study of over 1400 participants showed that participants who habitually slept few hours were more likely to have associations with type 2 diabetes.
- Low Motivation: When you get less sleep, you feel exhausted and tired. A feeling of lethargy develops within you and you feel lack of motivation to carry out a particular job. Your productivity level falls.
- Erratic Moods: Sleep loss can affect your moods as well. You become irritable and fail to control your temper in stressful situations. Mood swings can make you erratic and unapproachable and this can spoil your relation with others.
- Concentration Problems: When you are deprived of adequate sleep, you suffer from concentration problems. This lack of concentration can produce undesirable effects when you are driving or making important business decisions. A study conducted by researchers in Australia and New Zealand reports that sleep deprivation can have some of the same hazardous effects as being drunk as getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night can affect coordination, reaction time and judgment. The researchers found that people who drive after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent (the legal limit for drunk driving in most western European countries).
- Productivity Loss: The cognitive functions of the body get affected due to sleep deprivation. You might find difficulties in remembering facts, in task coordination, in analyzing complex data and in making decisions. In other words, you lose effectiveness and become less productive.
- Poor Quality of Life: When you have sleep disorders, you fail to give quality time to your family and friends. For example, you don't feel like watching a favorite television show together or to take your family to watch a movie or to have dinner at a restaurant.
- Occupational Hazards: When you don't get adequate sleep at night, you feel sleepy during the day time during your work hours. This increases the risk of occupational injuries. A 2004 study found that medical residents with less than four hours of sleep a night made more than twice as many errors as residents who slept for more than seven hours a night.
Not getting enough sleep is a very serious issue and it can serve as the reason behind serious illnesses like obesity, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, attention deficit disorder and mental impairment. Most healthy adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best, with children and teen requiring even more. If you are deprived of good quality and quantity of sleep, then you should consult an expert who would help you in overcoming this problem.
