New evidence links lack of sleep with health problems
Sleep plays a vital role in your physical health. A person needs different amounts of sleep during his life starting from the stage of an infant to old age. People don’t realise the importance of sleep and tend to leverage on the sleep time when they don’t have time for doing other things. Rest is not given enough importance what it deserves.
It has been proven medically that healing and repair of blood vessels and heart happen when you are sleeping. The brain is supposed to be organising all the information it revived in a day while we are sleeping and that is why students are told to sleep well before an exam. Many times it has happened that you sit and study overnight without sleeping and you go blank during the exam time the next day. This is because the brain was supposed to be making new pathways to help you remember what you have learnt during the day and lack of sleep led to a disruption of brain activity making you forget whatever you have discovered.
A good night’s sleep will help you remember better the next day, and it also improves learning. It will also enhance your decision making and problem-solving skills. It improves your concentration level and your creativity. It will help you finish any task faster than when you are sleep deprived.
There are physiological and psychological problems that could happen due to continuous sleep deprivation. Sleep is necessary for not just the physical health of a person but also his or her emotional well-being. Sleep deprivation leads to many problems. To the least, it makes you very irritable to others that people find it difficult to get along. You will find it difficult to control your emotions and also won’t be able to pay attention to what others are saying. Sleep deprivation basically affects the emotional well-being especially for teens and children and they will start having mood swings or feel sad or depressed and will also lack the motivation to do anything. When they are not able to concentrate in the class or pay attention, their grades will go down which will affect their mood and could even lead to a more severe problem such as depression.
Sleep also plays an equally or more important role in your physical health, and prolonged sleep deprivation leads to multiple problems such as heart diseases, high blood pressure, kidney diseases, stroke, diabetes and so on. Lack of sleep also disrupts your immune system making you susceptible to infections. Puberty and fertility of a person are also linked to sleep.
Another big problem that could happen due to a lack of sleep is obesity. In a study conducted among teenagers, it was found that each hour of sleep they lost; the odds of them becoming obese went up significantly. The connection between lack of sleep and obesity is not just among kids, but in adults as well. Even the natural growth of children is linked to sleep. The hormone that promotes natural growth is released during sleep.
Sleep deprivation can also impact your safety. Due to poor concentration and attention, you are more prone to accidents while driving, causing problems for you and the public. There is a high percentage of accidents that have happened due to people falling asleep while driving.
Even though, the amount of sleep a person needs vary, an average adult requires at least 8 hours of sleep while children of any age require more than 10 hours of sleep. A good night sleep will make a person happier, healthier, more tolerable and more efficient in whichever activity he or she does.
