Sleeplessness …… A Silent Killer!!!!!
Sleep is essential as much as you need to breathe and eat. While you’re sleeping, your body is busy tending to your physical and mental health and getting you ready for another day. Sleep deprivation is dangerous to our mental and physical health and can dramatically lower our quality of life. The quality of your sleep directly affects the quality of your awake life, including your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, physical vitality, and even your weight. No other activity delivers so many benefits with so little effort! Even minimal sleep loss takes a toll on your mood, energy, and ability to handle stress.
Average sleep required for an adults between 18-64 years is 7-9 hours( as per national sleep foundation). But the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. In today’s fast-paced and competitive society, six or six and half hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, its chronic sleep deprivation.
Sleep Deprivation Can Lead to Serious Health Problems like
- Heart diseases
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Migraine
- Low immunity
- Cognitive impairment
- Behavioral abnormalities
- Overweight
Lack of sleep can double the risk of death especially from cardiovascular diseases. In children and adolescents, hormones that promote growth are released during sleep that help build muscle mass, and repairs cells and tissues. Sleep is vital to development during puberty.
Central Nervous System
Sleep is necessary to keep the CNS functioning properly. During sleep, the brain rests busy neurons and forms new pathways so that it can start new functions in the morning.. Sleep deprivation leaves the brain exhausted, producing sleepiness.. It interferes with our ability to concentrate and learn new things. It negatively impacts both short-term and long-term memory. It gets in the way of our decision-making process and stifles creativity. Our emotions are also affected, making us more likely to have a short temper and mood swings. If sleep deprivation continues long enough, it increased risk of hallucinations, mania, impulsive behavior, depression, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts.
A side effect of sleep deprivation is micro sleep where we sleep for only a few seconds or a few minutes, but we don’t realize it. Micro sleep can get out of our control and can be extremely dangerous if we are driving.
Brain events called “sharp wave ripples” are responsible for consolidating memory. The ripples also transfer learned information from the hippocampus to the neocortex of the brain, where long-term memories are stored. Sharp wave ripples occur mostly during the deepest levels of sleep.
Continue
