How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect You?
By: Marie.CC
Our bodies are the temples of our souls many people say. But what if your body is overworked and has no chance to rest, relax and recuperate? What happens to you when you are sleep deprived? Does coffee ever make you fee better or is it just a band aid to you zombie-like brain? Well the answer is sleep deprivation does affect YOU A LOT. Without enough sleep you can turn from a happy pony to a murderous monster or a clumsy clam.
I have had my own fair share of being sleep deprived. I have felt moody, cranky, sick, dizzy, had stomach aches, cold sweat due to the lack of sleep. I have done many things to resolve my issues about finding the ways to cure my insomnia. I know many of YOU out there also struggle with the lack of sleep. I know how it feels to wake up for work and force yourself to function even though you really feel woozy and you just want lie in bed all day. On the other hand, some of us pride themselves with the ability to withstand the lack of sleep or go on days with little sleep. But sleeping is very important. I want to share with you what happens if you lack sleep.
What Happens When You are Sleep Deprived?
We all have been there or if you haven’t then lucky you. Sleep deprivation feels terrible. But for some people, they learn how to cope with it and live with it. Then they don’t notice too much the initial effects of it but rather their bodies take in the damage caused by the lack of sleep. Being unable to sleep for several days to weeks or months will really affect not just your health but also your personality and how you live your life.
I mean, think about it, if you can change how your life is by one simple thing like sleeping more wouldn’t you do it? But what if you can’t do it (like me with insomia)? Well let us first talk about what happens to you when you lack sleep.
Your Mood Suffers
When you are sleep deprived you mood becomes terrible. We all know that our hormones go crazy when we lack sleep and so on. Some of us heard that cortisol, the stress hormone rises in our body when we lack sleep. This makes us cranky, irritable and sometimes lonely. I’m not going to talk about so much health jargon here. What I want to tell you is that you as a person who is normally sane and positive can turn into someone who is angry and crazy. This in turn can affect your relationships. Your marriage can suffer when you always lack sleep because it can lead to more fights or you not wanting to have sex (we’ll talk more about that later). You become over the edge that you scold your children or elderly parents much more easily. You start to become upset at little things. Simply put, you lose your cool.
Your Weight is Affected
I have always struggled with my weight. There was a time when I was a teen that I lost the weight the healthy way and finally gained confidence. However, after graduating from college, I worked in night shift which caused me to suddenly gain weight. I worked in that sort of night time job for seven years. My weight would never go down even if I tried to diet and exercise. It was so difficult to sleep in the day because of the bright lights. Now I’m back to working in the normal time at home and I’m beginning my journey to weight loss.
When you lack sleep, your body feels hungry all the time due to the peptide called Ghrelin. This one makes you feel like cookie monster ready to much on all the sweets and goodies that you see. Your body produces less Leptin, a peptide that makes you feel satiated and suppresses hunger
What does this to you personally? I mean in our journey to be full individuals who are able to share light and happiness to world, when we are constantly hungry we feel that at we are becoming selfish. Many people feel guilt when eating too much. While others feel depressed due to the weight gain. Personally it’s not about being fat that bothers me, I feel beautiful no matter what my size is, but I want to be healthy. I want to live long for my husband.
Your Sex Drive Goes Down
Trust me on this, whether you’re a man or a woman, lack of sleep will kill your libido. Many marriages and relationships suffer because the partner is unable to fulfill their sexual needs and desires. Men normally get lower amounts of testosterone when they lack sleep which makes them less likely to want to have sex. Women are the same. They become too cranky to ever want to think of or engage in sexual activity. I myself and my husband have gone through this issue due the lack of sleep we’ve had before. Not being able to engage in a spiritually bonding activity like sex can greatly damage a relationship. Sex brings couples together in whole different level. You may think that sleep does not affect your marriage, but it does.
Your Health Suffers A LOT
I have diabetes and I don’t even like sweets that much. The culprit? My bad genes and working nights. My husband is hypertensive and it is because of his previous job which was also working at night. We both had little sleep during the day and it was a terrible price we had to pay. We both now know the essence of sleep. Back then we had no choice but to work night and chose our careers over our health but now we realized that health is more important.
People who lack sleep suffer from many health issues including heart problems, heart attacks, high blood pressure, gastric problems and diabetes. This is because our body is made to sleep a certain number of hours before it breaks down. Actually 7-9 hours to be precise. Yes some people would say that six hours of sleep is good enough but trust the experts that an hour more of shut eye makes a whole lot of difference. When you don’t sleep, your muscles become tense as well as your heart. They can become overworked can shut down if you don’t give them the sleep they deserve. Diabetes is possible because your body suffers more from inflammation and cannot regulate sugar properly.
When you get sick, you and your family suffer both emotionally and financially. You cannot enjoy life as much as other people because your health limits you from doing certain things. My husband cannot ride the roller coaster any more because he might get a stroke from doing so.
You Age Faster
Sleeping, lots of water, a good diet and exercise would be come simple secrets some beauty queens and celebrities would dish out why they look so young and vibrant. But it is true. Sleep allows your body to repair itself. When you sleep, you allow your DNA to recuperate and rebuild itself. When you sleep, your body processes collagen better. Lack of sleep produces cortisol that breaks down collagen. With little collagen your skin sags and becomes sallow. You may spend a lot of money buying expensive creams and getting derma sessions but none of this will work if you don’t get enough sleep. People who lack sleep often look sad and melancholic. This makes a person less attractive or less approachable. We all want good social relationships, so sleep can really help boost that.
Final Thoughts
What I can say is that sleeping is important. I know how it is to lack sleep. I know how it feels to walk like a zombie and work like a zombie. I tried some things that helped sleep better.
Exercise – Well exercise boosted my circulation and helped me fall asleep easily. So this bit really helped me manage my insomnia.
Yoga and meditation – My mind is constantly on the go and I can hardly keep still. I know I’m a workaholic so by doing yoga and meditation, I was able to keep still. This allowed me to focus on my breath and sleep better.
Don’t eat so late – I’ve cut back on midnight snacks and just kept on yogurt at night or a banana. Well bananas are great coz they’re light and has triptophan which helps you fall asleep.
Sleep the same time – Erratic sleep time can be a bummer. I have made a sleep schedule to help me manage my sleeping time.
Avoid blue light an hour before sleeping – Phones, PCs, iPads have to rest an hour before you do.
I hope you do get the sleep you deserve. Sleep more but not too much; IT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!