9 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Lose Sleep
Not getting enough sleep can lower your sex drive, weaken your immune system, cause thinking issues, and even lead to weight gain.
When you don’t get enough sleep, you may also increase your risk of certain cancers, diabetes and depression too.
If you find yourself part of this no-sleep category, you’re not the only one, approximately 1 in 3 adults around the world isn’t getting enough sleep.
Here are the details of what happens to your body when you don’t get enough sleep:
1. You get sick
Losing sleep can impair your body’s ability to fight against illness and makes it easier to get sick.
Researchers have uncovered a reciprocal relationship between sleep and your immune system.
You may lose extra sleep while your body fights off a bug if you get sick and haven’t had enough shut-eye.
2. Your heart suffers
Both short sleep durations (less than 4-5 hours per night) and long sleep durations (9-10 or more hours per night) have been shown to have a negative impact on their heart health, according to an analysis published in the European Heart Journal.
In particular, your chances of developing heart disease or having a stroke are greatly increased with less amount of sleep.
3. Your cancer risk increases
Less sleep is associated with higher rates of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer.
The good news is that both men and women who slept 7 -8 hours per night had the best mortality rates.
4. You can’t think
Even missing one night of sleep may lead to some major cognition (thinking) issues.
In one study published by Experimental Brain Research, a group of 18 men were given a certain task to complete. The first task was completed by following a full night sleep and the next task was completed after skipping a night of sleep.
Brain functions including memory, decision-making, reasoning, and problem-solving along with reaction time and alertness everything was functioning in a normal way after having a full night sleep compared to skipping a night sleep.
5. You forget stuff
Not only missed sleep can make you more forgetful, also research indicating that sleep has an impact on learning and memory.
Researchers also suggest that quality sleep is critical to the process of consolidating the things we learn in the brain. In other words, we need proper rest (sleep) to lock in new information and commit it to memory.
6. Your libido diminishes
Not getting enough sleep could also lead to reduce your sex drive.
In one study, young men who lost sleep over a one-week period showed a decrease in the testosterone levels. Sleeping 5 or less than 5 hours reduced sex hormone levels by as much as 10 to 15 percent.
Those men also reported that their overall mood, activity and vigor declined with each consecutive night of interrupted rest.
7. You gain weight
Lack of sleep can cause you to gain weight.
A study examined the relationship between sleep and weight in 21,000 adults over the age of 20. Those people who slept less than 5 hours each night over the course of the three-year study were more likely to gain weight.
Those who slept between 7 and 8 hours were better on the scale.
8. You’re accident prone
You’re three times more likely to be involved in a car accident if you get 5 or fewer hours of sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
The most likely people are shift workers, commercial drivers, business travelers, and anyone else working long or odd hours.
Think twice or thrice before getting behind the wheel if you’re not sleeping enough.
9. Your skin suffers
If all of these health risks don’t convince you to get more sleep, do it for your looks (skin).
In one study, a group of people between the ages of 25 and 50 were evaluated based on their sleep habits and the condition of their skin. The results showed that those with too little sleep had more fine lines, wrinkles, uneven skin color, and marked looseness of the skin.
Conclude
Then, turn out the lights and enjoy your 7 to 8 hours of beauty — and health — rest.