Yes, I'm Sleep Deprived-So What? Part 2

This is the 2nd post in my series on sleep deprivation. If you haven't yet read part 1 and would like to, you can read it here.
  Are You Sleep Deprived? Part 1 

  Maybe you already read it and realize that yes, you are sleep deprived.... or maybe you already knew that. So now that many of us realize that yes, we are sleep deprived, we ask the question..  What's the big deal?



We all know that sleep is something we need.... or do we?

I saw a saying that said, " Sleep is a substitute of coffee for people with too much free time on their hands." Yes, it is supposed to be funny, but how many of us believe that in at least a little way? How many of us take caffeine - coffee, soda, tea, chocolate, diet pills or other... to keep going or to help us get more done? Hmmm... ouch, that hurts a little, doesn't it? Okay, okay... most of us probably realize we use that artificial  "energy" sometimes...., but so what?

Research shows that the ideal amount of sleep for most people is about 8 hours and 10 minutes, although most people function well when they get between 7-9 hours of sleep since some people need a bit more and others need a bit less, but 8 hours is the average needed.

In my research, I found that studies have been done in keeping someone up for days and testing them, recording what abilities they lost and when they lost them. In fact one individual who did something like this never recovered their health from it and such tests have been not used as much anymore.... they are just too dangerous. In testing rats and keeping them sleep deprived for many days, they eventually die.... just from lack of sleep even when their other needs are met. Humans also need sleep and can die from being sleep deprived for a lengthy time.

Well, we don't plan to go days and days without sleep, so we are fine, right? Wrong!!!   It doesn't take severe sleep loss for the body to start reacting to it.... even if it is just missing a couple of hours a day for a few days. There are hormonal changes that occur and allow cortisol, the stress hormone, to be higher than normal. Emotions destabilize, brain function deteriorates, and more.  Sleep deprivation WILL lead to health problems. If caught early enough, these can be reversed through severely changing sleep habits.  If not, the damage continues and grows.

 
One tidbit for those who want to lose weight and wonder why they can't.... The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that if you only get 4 hours of sleep a night, you can expect to consume an extra 559 calories the following day. :(  Not good.  Also lack of sleep interferes with metabolism and it becomes more difficult to lose weight.








Other possible consequences of sleep loss:
-those who get less than 5 hours of sleep a night have a 2-3 times higher risk of a heart attack.
-immune system is weak
-depression, anxiety, paranoia, confusion, hallucinations can result; psychosis
-thyroid gland problems
-cranky, irritable, anger, impulsiveness, mood swings can result
-body temperature can decrease
-impaired coordination
-vision issues-blurred vision, trouble focusing, vision can seem "off"
-general discomfort
-actual pain - ongoing
-inflammation leading to heart problems, increased risk of cancer and more
-brain deterioration, higher risk of Alzheimers
-stomach upset, diarrhea
-diabetes and other illnesses
-shorter life expectancy
-look older
-affects intimacy with spouse
-micro-sleeping - brief involuntary dropping off to sleep-even without realizing it
-higher blood pressure
-more, even possibly.... death
















When there isn't enough sleep, we start to accumulate a sleep debt. While we may never use a credit card to buy stuff at the store or if we do, maybe we limit it and pay it off quickly.... we may be running up a huge debt of sleep. They say that for every hour of sleep lost, we need to have an extra actual hour of sleep. It is easy to see how that could quickly build up and become almost impossible to reverse. If we lose 1 hour of sleep for a couple of nights, we can sleep in on Saturday morning and probably be fine. What if we lose 1 hour of sleep for 10 days and we then need to get 10 extra hours of sleep? Then an emergency happens and we lose 3 hours a night for 3 nights... now we are up to 19 EXTRA hours of sleep needed. When will we get those 8 hours of sleep a night PLUS those extra 19? Then it goes on and on.

As I said in part 1, this is a "heads up" post.... alerting us all to some very real dangers to our health, productivity, attitudes and more. It would be good to evaluate how we are doing in this area.... and plan to make some necessary changes.... BEFORE the doctor gives us bad news like diabetes, cancer, heart attack or other diagnoses we don't want to have. I know I am taking this seriously and am making more changes....

Thank you for joining me for this series. In the next part of the series, we will be discussing children and sleep deprivation.... I hope you have a good week.... and some extra sleep. :)

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