Surprising effects of sleep deprivation

We all need sleep as much as we need to breathe and eat. Sleep is crucial for normal brain and body function. In children and teens, hormones that promote growth are released during sleep. As adults, sleep plays a more subtle but equally important role and if you are not getting your daily share, you will find that your body may begin to ‘malfunction’.

Always hungry

If you are not getting enough sleep, you will get an imbalance of the hormones that control appetite and satiety. Production of Ghrelin, the so-called ‘hunger hormone’ is increased and you will find yourself constantly hungry—often craving fatty and sugary foods. Getting inadequate sleep is also thought to reduce the production of a hormone known as Leptin. This is the hormone that normally counter-acts the effect of ghrelin resulting in a feeling of satiety.

You have gained weight

Sleep deprivation is actually a well-known risk factor for the development of obesity. As earlier noted, there is an increase in appetite and food cravings due to hormonal imbalance (ghrelin and leptin). In addition, production of another hormone known as cortisol is also increased. Cortisol is a stress hormone which has been associated with weight gain.

Always ‘catching colds’

Your immune system rejuvenates itself whilst you sleep. It produces protective substances that fight off foreign organisms like bacteria and viruses. Inadequate sleep over prolonged periods can be harmful to your body’s defence system and weaken your immunity making you more vulnerable to respiratory infections like the common cold.

Mood swings

You may find yourself snapping inappropriately at your children and workmates. At other times, minor altercations with your spouse may reduce you to tears— all of which are not normal reactions on your part. Sleep deprivation has been known to affect emotions making you more likely to have mood swings and outbursts of short temper.

You are depressed

Insomnia has a strong link to depression. In fact, insomnia is often one of the first symptoms of depression. They feed off each other — lack of sleep loss aggravates the symptoms of depression and depression can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Apart from depression, lack of sleep can result in impulsive behaviour, paranoia and even heightened levels of anxiety.

Under-performing at work

Sleep is necessary to keep your brain functioning properly. If your brain does not get sufficient rest, your ability to concentrate and learn new things diminishes considerably. Fatigue gets in the way of your decision-making abilities and stifles your creativity. Your attention is also impaired, you are less aware of your surroundings and your reasoning and problem solving capabilities are significantly reduced. This makes you an inefficient team leader and team player at the work place.

For those of us whose jobs involve manual labour, you risk injury at the workplace as your balance and coordination can become out of sync. You also risk falling asleep at work.

READ: Why physicians must keep better work-life balance

You are forgetful

Lack of sleep can negatively impact your memory. If you do not get enough sleep, you will not be able to remember what you learned and experienced during the day. In addition, your long term memory may also deteriorate (long term memory refers to the ability to remember things that happened several months/years ago).

Sex life is going downhill

Men and women who do not get enough sleep have lower libidos and less interest in sex than those that get adequate rest. This is due to low energy levels, constant fatigue, mood swings and increased stress levels.

In addition, men who suffer from sleep apnoea tend to have lower testosterone levels, which can lower libido. (Sleep apnoea is a condition in which breathing difficulties lead to interrupted sleep – tends to occur more commonly in overweight men who snore).

Blood pressure is rising

High blood pressure (hypertension) has many causes. Although it tends to run in families, there are cases in which hormonal imbalance, kidney problems, heart issues etc may contribute to its elevation. Although lack of sleep on its own will not give you hypertension, the high stress levels associated with consistent lack of rest can result in elevated blood pressure. This usually returns to normal with adequate rest.

Doctor is worried about your heart

As earlier mentioned, lack of sleep has been associated with obesity. This can lead to multiple health risks including problems with your heart (including heart attack) and stroke. Research also shows that obesity contributes to your risk of developing diabetes which also damages your heart and blood vessels.

Skin looks dull

We refer to slumber as ‘beauty sleep’ for a reason. Lack of sleep ages your skin. Going to bed with a clean moisturized face helps your skin recover from all the harmful effects it had to deal with during the day (these include sun rays, dirt, cosmetics etc.). If you constantly get very little sleep, you will find that with time you will get a dull look to your skin, fine lines will appear on your face and you will get dark circles under your eyes (with unsightly ‘eye bags’).

You have trouble seeing

Most people with poor vision have a well-known cause. Usually they are either short sighted or long sighted or suffer from conditions like cataracts or vitamin A deficiency. A few have vision issues related to complications of their other medical conditions e.g. diabetes or high blood pressure. However, even people without any known vision problems can have challenges seeing when fatigued. The muscles inside the eye tire out and make it difficult to focus (especially when reading or driving at night). In addition, one is not able to effectively control the external muscles of the eye (these muscles allow for one to move their eye up and down and from side to side). This can lead to double vision and impaired judgement regarding distance and one’s surroundings.

Stop with the ‘caffeine fixes’

Kenyans have a strong tea/coffee drinking culture. We cannot start our day without our morning cup. There is nothing wrong with this but if have cannot function without your caffeine fix or you need caffeine to ‘try and get your brain to wake up’, then you have a problem. Caffeine fixes should not be used to deal with your poor sleeping habits. With time, stimulants like caffeine are not able to override your body’s need for sleep and you will find yourself ‘burnt out’.