Sleep
deprivation can have serious effects on your
health in the form of physical and mental
impairments. Inadequate rest impairs our
ability to think, handle stress, maintain a
healthy immune system and moderate our
emotions. In fact, sleep is so important to
our overall health that total sleep
deprivation has been proven to be fatal: lab
rats denied the chance to rest die within
two to three weeks.
Without adequate rest, the brain's ability
to function quickly deteriorates. The brain
works harder to counteract sleep deprivation
effects, but operates less effectively:
concentration levels drop, and memory
becomes impaired.
Similarly, the
brain's ability to problem solve is greatly
impaired. Decision-making abilities are
compromised, and the brain falls into rigid
thought patterns that make it difficult to
generate new problem-solving ideas. Insufficient
rest can also cause people to have
hallucinations. Other typical effects of sleep
deprivation include:
- depression
- heart
disease
- hypertension
- irritability
- slower
reaction times
- slurred
speech
- tremors.
In this section,
we will outline and examine the various
effects of sleep deprivation. Our articles
will describe how prolonged lack of sleep
affects both mental and physical health.
The Aging
Process
The older we
get, the more likely it is that we will
suffer from some kind of sleep disorder. In
fact, over 50 percent of people over 64
years old suffer from some type of sleep
disorder. While the hormonal and physical
changes that occur as we age will likely
affect sleep, especially in menopausal
women, the increased presence of other
medical conditions and disorders is also a
factor that tends to upset the sleep of the
elderly.
One of the
biggest sleeping problems the elderly
experience is the inability to get deep,
restorative sleep. Although they tend to
sleep just as much as they did when they
were younger, the elderly don’t get as
quality sleep, meaning that they often
suffer from fatigue and daytime drowsiness.
The main reason for this is that older
people don’t get as much REM sleep, the
deepest, most restorative sleep phase. Keep
reading to learn more about the relationship
between sleep and aging.
Weight Changes
Dramatic weight
changes, especially weight gain, are also
common effects of sleep deprivation. Because
the amount and quality of the sleep we get
affects our hormone levels, namely our
levels of leptin and ghrelin, many
physiological processes that depend on these
hormone levels to function properly,
including appetite, are affected by our
sleep.
Leptin is a
hormone that affects our feelings of
fullness and satisfaction after a meal, and
ghrelin is the hormone that stimulates our
appetites. When you suffer from sleep
deprivation, your body’s levels of leptin
fall and ghrelin levels increase. This means
that you end up feeling hungrier without
really feeling satisfied by what you eat,
causing you to eat more and, consequently,
gain weight.
Resources
Bouchez, C.
(2007). The
dream diet: Losing weight while you sleep.
Retrieved July 5, 2007 from the WebMD Web site.
