Proper sleep is as important as breathing and eating for health and quality life. While sleeping, your body nurtures your physical and mental health and prepares you for another good day. Furthermore, body releases the hormones that promote growth in children and adolescents during sleep also. These hormones help in repairing of cells and tissue and building muscle mass. Lack of sleep also affects the ability of your mind to work properly that affects your cognitive and emotional state. If you are continuously lacking of sleep, it will lower your body’s defenses leading to increased risks of developing chronic conditions. In simple there are many disadvantages of inadequate sleep. Some of the ways in which sleep deprivation can affect your health include:
Affect of sleep deprivation on central nervous system:
Central nervous system is simply the information highway of your body and proper sleep in important to keep it working properly. Brain rests busy neurons and forms new pathways to make you ready for next day. Furthermore, brain also releases the growth hormones and the proteins that help repair cell damage also. Sleep deprivation leaves brain exhausted that prevents it from performing its tasks properly. It also affects your short-term and long-term memory and decision making power.
Affect of sleep deprivation on immune system:
While sleeping, your immune system produces infection-fighting antibodies and cells, which help body fight against foreign substances like bacteria and viruses. Due to sleep deprivation, your body won’t be able to fight invaders. Moreover, people experiencing sleep deprivation take longer to recover from diseases and the risks of suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases also increase.
Affect of sleep deprivation on respiratory system:
Sleep deprivation weakens immune system that makes you more vulnerable to respiratory problems like influenza and cold. If you are already suffering from some lung disease, it can make the condition worse.
Affect of sleep deprivation on digestive system:
Sleep deprivation increases the production of stress hormone and lowers the production of leptin that tells your brain you have eaten enough food. Moreover, it also increases levels of ghrelin – appetite stimulant. This is the reason that sleep deprivation is also one of the causes of obesity. Lack of sleep stimulates the release of higher levels of insulin after eating. This increases the risks of developing type 2 diabetes.
Affect of sleep deprivation on cardiovascular system:
Lack of sleep also leads to some cardiovascular problems. Proper sleep is very important for your body’s ability of healing and repairing your blood vessels. Not getting enough sleep can lead to chronic health conditions like high blood pressure, hypertension and stroke.
In short, if you are not getting enough sleep, it can badly affect your health and also becomes the reason of chronic health conditions.