A person in productive age needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep a day. However, if the need for sleep is not met it can cause problems. As a result of lack of sleep that can occur, namely the brain is easily tired and an increased risk of obesity.
Table of Content
1. Causes of lack of sleep
2. The effects of constant lack of sleep to watch out for
3. How to avoid sleep deprivation
Lack of sleep can make you wake up in the morning feeling weak, tired, and yawning throughout the day. However, due to lack of sleep not only that. Check out the various causes and effects of lack of sleep and how to prevent it in the following article.
Causes of lack of sleep
Sleep is a basic need for humans. The amount of sleep needed for each person is different. This can be determined by age.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, a person of reproductive age needs 7-9 hours of sleep every night. In children, the required sleep duration is longer, ie for 10-11 hours per night.
If a person is not able to meet the sleep needs, or even the hours of sleep obtained are far from the ideal number, then he is experiencing a sleep deprivation condition.
The characteristics of sleep deprivation can be characterized by feeling weak, tired, to yawning or sleepy throughout the day.
The various causes of sleep deprivation are as follows.
- Staying up late is a bad habit that makes you sleep-deprived. This condition can occur because they have to complete office work deadlines, work night shifts, study for tomorrow’s exams, to enjoy watching movies and playing on social media.
- Consumption of caffeine or other stimulants. This cause of lack of sleep can keep you up all night. In addition to coffee or other caffeinated drinks, cigarettes and alcohol are also stimulants that can cause your sleep time to be disturbed.
- Stress. Stress may be the most common cause of sleep deprivation. Instead of resting, you become more busy thinking about the various things that keep you awake.
- Sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances can be the cause of the lack of sleep you experience. As a result, you stay up all night. Some of the sleep problems in question, namely insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome.
- age. People over the age of 65 usually have trouble sleeping because of an illness or the consumption of certain regular medications.
- Diseases suffered. Some people may experience decreased sleep quality due to suffering from certain medical conditions. For example, depression, chronic joint pain, cancer, stroke, or Alzheimer’s disease. This condition can interfere with sleep quality.
The effects of constant lack of sleep to watch out for
The benefits of adequate sleep can help the brain to engage in a number of activities needed to improve the quality of life.
Well, the consequences of lack of sleep for health will certainly affect cognitive abilities, facial appearance, sexual life, weight, and others.
For more details, here are the various effects of lack of sleep for health that need to be watched out for.
1. Difficulty concentrating
One of the common effects of sleep deprivation is difficulty concentrating. Adequate sleep turns out to play an important role in the process of learning and thinking.
If you are often sleep-deprived, your cognitive abilities can deteriorate over time.
These include levels of alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.
2. Easy to forget
In addition to difficulty concentrating, due to lack of sleep also makes it easier for you to forget. In fact, the characteristics of sleep deprivation have been studied by researchers from the United States and France which prove, the effects of lack of sleep can cause senile or forgetful.
Lack of sleep disrupts the brain’s ability to process and store memories or things that have been learned and experienced throughout the day.
You also become difficult to digest and process information and focus on doing something in the following days.
3. Weight gain
Weight gain is also an effect of lack of sleep that you need to be aware of. This may be related to sleep duration and changes in body metabolism.
In adults, sleeping about 4 hours per day can increase hunger and appetite, especially on high-carbohydrate foods that are dense in calories. This condition also occurs in children and adolescents.
This is also evidenced in the results of past studies which show that people who sleep less than 6 hours per day are more likely to be obese than people who sleep 7-9 hours per night.
In a recent study in PLOS Medicine, it was stated that sleep has an impact on 2 types of hormones, namely leptin and ghrelin, which function to regulate hunger and satiety in the body.
During sleep, leptin levels in the body will decrease, thereby stimulating satiety signals to the brain.
If sleep is reduced, the brain will reduce levels of the hormone leptin and increase ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger signals to the brain.
Well, these hormonal changes can make you want to snack or overeat at night.
This lack of sleep also causes you to feel too tired to exercise. Over time, lack of exercise can make you gain weight because your body doesn’t burn calories.
4. Decreased sex drive
Experts believe, lack of sleep causes a decrease in libido while reducing the desire to have sex.
This may occur due to drowsiness and drained energy due to lack of sleep at night. Not only in men, this side effect of staying up late can also be experienced by women.
For men who suffer from sleep apnea, this condition can affect testosterone levels in the body.
5. Easy to get sick
Having enough sleep makes the body’s immune system work optimally by producing cytokines, which are chemical compounds that can help fight bacteria and viruses in the body.
In fact, certain types of cytokines can increase the body’s immune system to be more effective in fighting disease.
Well, the effects of lack of sleep can make the immune system unable to work optimally in fighting viruses or bacteria that cause disease. As a result, you will be more susceptible to various diseases.
If left continuously, the danger of lack of sleep can increase the risk of various chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and heart disease.
6. Increased risk of heart and cardiovascular disease
Lack of sleep because often staying up late can have a bad impact on the heart. The reason, the danger of lack of sleep can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
A study published in the journal European Journal of Preventive Cardiology suggests, people who suffer from insomnia are at risk of suffering from heart attacks to strokes.
Therefore, you need adequate rest because sleep is important in maintaining a healthy heart and blood vessels. It is also good in maintaining blood pressure, sugar levels, and inflammation problems.
7. Trigger serious illness
The effects of lack of sleep can increase the risk of serious illnesses. Some chronic diseases that may appear, include:
1. Heart disease
2. Heart attack
3. Heart failure
4. Irregular heartbeat
5. High blood pressure
6. Stroke
7. Diabetes
In order to avoid the terrible disease above, you should improve your sleep pattern.
8. Vulnerable to accidents
The effects of lack of sleep not only reduce your productivity and concentration but also are prone to accidents. As a result, the risk of road accidents can occur, including drowsiness while driving.
Quoting from Web MD, lack of hours and quality of sleep can cause accidents and injuries at work.
Therefore, don’t take your hours of sleep for granted that are not well enough.
9. Increased risk of mental illness
The dangers of lack of sleep can also affect the mood ( mood ) you have throughout the day. You will easily experience mood swings and become impatient.
This more emotional state can have a big impact when you have to make an important decision or work. If this problem becomes chronic, other problems such as hallucinations can occur.
Meanwhile, the risk of other mental disorders that can occur due to lack of sleep, namely impulsive behavior, anxiety, depression, paranoia, to suicidal ideation.
10. The appearance of problems on facial skin
Lack of sleep it does not only have an effect on your body’s health. More than that, there are a number of effects of lack of sleep on the face that you should watch out for.
If you don’t get enough sleep, your skin will lose its elasticity and suppleness. This includes the skin area under the eyes. As a result, panda eyes appear as a sign of sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation causes the skin to appear paler. This makes the dark circles around the eyes appear more prominent. Your eye area may also look like it’s swollen.
In addition to the effects of lack of sleep for the eyes, according to a study published in the journal Acta Dermato Venereologica, acne problems can also arise due to insufficient sleep time.
The amount of the hormone cortisol that is too high causes the body to be prone to inflammation and unable to fight the immune system.
If this is the case, your risk of developing certain medical conditions and skin problems, such as acne will increase.
When your sleep time is disturbed, your body can’t make enough collagen. This means, the skin can sag and appear more wrinkles as a result of staying up late for the face.
How to avoid sleep deprivation
To avoid sleep deprivation, you can take the following steps.
1. Get used to sleep on time
Getting into the habit of going to bed and getting up on time regularly can help you avoid sleep deprivation problems. For that, make sure you always get enough sleep every day.
Although at first it feels difficult to go through this sleep schedule, slowly you will certainly get used to living it.
2. Good at managing time at work and socializing
Basically, you can work and hang out with friends or family members at night.
However, make sure you don’t lose track of time so it doesn’t become the cause of sleep deprivation. At least, if you have entered bedtime, make sure to get some rest.
3. Do a routine before bed
Doing a routine before bed makes the body get used to falling asleep quickly after doing various activities.
You can do any routine based on your hobbies, such as reading a book, stretching, wearing comfortable clothes, listening to a song, brushing your teeth, or using nighttime skincare.
4. Avoid playing with gadgets before bed
Even if you do a bedtime routine based on your hobbies, try to avoid playing with gadgets before bed. The reason, this can potentially keep you up all night.
An expert recommends avoiding using gadgets at least 1 hour before bedtime at night.
There are various consequences of lack of sleep for health that need to be watched out for. For that, try to meet the need of sleep at least 7 hours every day.