7 Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep
How well would you say you sleep? Do you think that your sleep habits are good? Are you getting enough sleep?
Many times, work and the rest of your daily activities make you skip or reduce the number of hours you sleep. Nowadays, this seems to be the most normal thing in the world. After all, many people think it’s OK and necessary.
However, do you know the consequences of not getting sufficient rest?
Most people forget that sleeping is as important as eating, and staying hydrated.
Keep reading and discover the consequences of not getting enough rest. It’s time to start taking better care of yourself.
The Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep
High Levels of Anxiety
When you sleep, your body repairs itself. It also gets rid of muscle tension caused by the stress of the day.
Because of this, one of the consequences of not getting sufficient rest is that stress builds up and multiplies. This makes it more difficult to face the next day’s challenges.
The connection between your body and mind is very intense. If you don’t get rid of stress through adequate rest, it shows up as anxiety.
Anxiety can also be caused by the chronic release of adrenaline. This is a common occurrence if you don’t rest enough every night.
As a result, always try to sleep well and for several hours at night.
Depression
Another one of the consequences of not getting sufficient amounts rest is depression. This is because the lack of sleep interferes with your neurotransmitters.
In this case, it can steer you towards a reduction of synapses between neurons that regulate your mood.
As a result, each time you feel a little depressed or down, think about how many hours you’ve slept. You might discover that it’s not your life that’s going wrong, but that you’re not sleeping correctly.
Lack of Concentration
Believe it or not, sleeping directly interferes with your thoughts and learning. Because of this, one of the consequences of not sleeping enough is damage to these cognitive processes.
When you haven’t slept for at least 7 hours, your attention, alertness, reasoning, and the way you solve problems are severely affected.
This makes the learning process almost nonfunctional.
Also, your sleep cycles have a very important role in strengthening memories in your mind. So, if you don’t rest for enough hours, you won’t be able to remember what you’ve learned.
Problems with Obesity and Blood Pressure
Melatonin regulates the hormones that make you feel hunger (ghrelin) or fullness (leptin).
When you sleep less, your levels of ghrelin increase and your levels of leptin decrease. This causes the perfect scene for weight gain and obesity.
Also, people who don’t sleep correctly are less likely to exercise because they’re too tired. These people are also more likely to eat foods that are high in saturated fats and sugar.
If those reasons don’t seem like bad enough consequences for not getting enough rest, there’s another. Your heart health also gets weaker. Only sleeping 5 to 6 hours per night increases your blood pressure.
Also read: Beets Help Lower Blood Pressure
Sleep controls your stress hormones. At the same time, they regulate and ensure healthy blood pressure.
Immune System Problems
When you sleep, your immune system produces protective cytokines, antibodies, and cells that fight infections. This is necessary for fighting foreign substances like bacteria and viruses.
One of the consequences of not sleeping enough is that your immune system doesn’t have the opportunity to recuperate its strength and vitality.
If you don’t rest enough, it’s likely that your body won’t be able to defend itself against infections. As a result, you get sick more often.
In the long run, depriving yourself of rest increases your risk of developing chronic disease. These include things like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Premature Skin Aging
Getting bags under your eyes is another one of the consequences of not getting enough rest. When you don’t sleep at least 6 hours, the stress hormone, cortisol, is released in large amounts.
Women that sleep badly or very little usually show signs of premature aging like wrinkles.
In large amounts, cortisol can break collagen. Because of this, your skin will stop looking elastic, healthy, and smooth.
Do you want your skin to be healthy but don’t get the results you want with creams and treatments? Maybe it’s a good idea to get some more sleep and get to bed earlier.
Your skin regenerates is between 10 o’clock at night and 2 o’clock in the morning.
Don’t miss the following article: Natural Toners for Beautiful Glowing Skin
Avoid the Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep
If you’re one of the people who don’t get enough rest, maybe you’ve identified with some of these consequences.
If you’re fighting with some of these problems, change your habits. You’ll definitely feel the difference.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Borges CR, Poyares D, Piovezan R, Nitrini R, Brucki S. Alzheimer’s disease and sleep disturbances: a review. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2019 Nov;77(11):815-824.
- Ogilvie RP, Patel SR. The Epidemiology of Sleep and Diabetes. Curr Diab Rep. 2018 Aug 17;18(10):82.
