What does lack of sleep lead to? Chronic sleep deprivation: symptoms and consequences

An adult's sleep duration should be 7-8 hours. This is the time the body needs to fully recover. But how often a couple of hours are not enough to complete all the planned tasks. Naturally, this time is “stolen” at the expense of rest. The result is chronic lack of sleep. What are the health risks of this condition?

What is chronic sleep deprivation?

First, let's figure out what condition can be attributed to this pathology. A person who does not get enough sleep every day for several days or even weeks suffers from sleep deficiency. But it’s still too early to talk about chronic pathology. Of course, he encounters the first negative signs of this phenomenon. But chronic lack of sleep manifests itself in all its glory when a person limits his rest for several months.

A study was recently conducted at the University of Texas. It showed that residents who did not get the required amount of sleep for 7 nights in a row had genetic changes. Such violations lead to the development of serious health problems. This is a disease of memory loss.

Therefore, people who sleep 6 hours a night, and sometimes less, should be aware of the serious risks to which they expose their body.

Reasons for constant lack of sleep

Both internal and external factors can lead to insufficient night rest. Internal causes include a variety of psychological or physiological problems. And external are various circumstances that do not make it possible to go to bed on time or fully rest.

Let's consider the most basic factors that most often lead to such a phenomenon as chronic lack of sleep.

Reasons for poor quality night rest:

Stress. This is the most common reason for inadequate rest. The nature of insomnia may be due to unpleasant memories, problems at work or in personal life, financial or financial. These factors lead to a decrease in the production of melatonin in the body. Instead, the synthesis of adrenaline increases. It is this that leads to overexcitation of the nervous system and provokes problems with falling asleep.
Mental illnesses. Sometimes insomnia is a symptom of various abnormalities. It may indicate the development of psychosis, neurosis, manic disorder, or prolonged depression in the body.
Physiological ailments. Very often they cause insomnia in older people. Although even children are not protected from such pathologies. Diseases can worsen in the evening or at night. This prevents you from falling asleep quickly. Sometimes unpleasant symptoms make you wake up at night. Most often, chronic lack of sleep occurs against the background of the following diseases: diathesis, enuresis, angina pectoris, restless legs syndrome, hormonal imbalance, joint disease (arthrosis, arthritis), hypertension, obstructive apnea.
Failure of biological rhythms. All human systems are designed in such a way that between approximately 8 and 10 pm the processes occurring in the body begin to slow down. This causes the person to relax and fall asleep. If this moment is ignored for a long time and the person does not go to bed at the proper time, then a violation of the biological rhythm occurs. As a result, a person tosses and turns in bed for a long time and cannot sleep.

Main symptoms

With chronic lack of sleep, a person’s condition is a bit like alcohol intoxication. Such a person is drowsy, she may experience hallucinations and even confusion.

Doctors consider this condition as a disease - a sleep disorder. The body is not able to fully recover. This leads to a number of negative violations. Chronic lack of sleep primarily affects a person’s appearance, general condition and character.

Symptoms affecting the nervous system:

inattention;
depression and apathy;
irritability;
increased emotionality (unreasonable tears or inappropriate laughter);
inability to concentrate;
decreased cognitive abilities (thinking, speech, memory).

Signs of lack of sleep that affect your appearance:

swelling of the eyelids;
redness of the whites of the eyes;
pale or sallow skin color;
formation of dark circles under the eyes;
Quite unkempt looking.

Symptoms affecting body systems:

dizziness, headache;
deterioration of the functioning of the digestive tract (diarrhea, constipation);
nausea, flatulence;
exacerbation of chronic ailments;
decreased immunity;
susceptibility to colds.

What does lack of sleep lead to?

This condition is quite dangerous. After all, the body may try to compensate for the lack of rest. In other words, a person can fall asleep at any moment, regardless of whether he is at work or driving.

However, this is not the only negative factor that chronic lack of sleep can lead to. The consequences of neglecting rest for a long time can be much more serious.

Doctors, having carefully studied this condition, claim that chronic lack of sleep can provoke:

stroke;
obesity;
diabetes;
serious memory impairment (up to loss of brain tissue);
weakening of the immune system;
the appearance of heart disease;
breast or intestinal cancer;
hypertensive crisis;
chronic fatigue syndrome;
the appearance of depression.

Now, knowing what chronic lack of sleep leads to, let's look at how to get rid of this condition.

Choose a mattress with medium firmness.
Use a low pillow.
Underwear and bed linen should be made from natural fabrics.
Eliminate irritating factors (ticking clock, draft, flashing electronic sensor).
Avoid watching movies or reading negative books before bed.
3-4 hours before rest, give up caffeine-containing products (energy drinks, tea, coffee).
2 hours before bedtime, do not eat heavy, fatty foods.
Go to bed no later than 10-11 pm.

Basic treatment methods

If all the symptoms indicate that you have developed chronic sleep deprivation, what should you do in this situation? Initially, the cause of this condition should be eliminated.

In most cases, the following measures are sufficient to improve sleep quality:

Eliminate daytime naps completely.
Try to move more during the day (walk, play sports).
Before resting, carry out procedures that can eliminate nervous tension (watching humorous films, calm music,
Be sure to ventilate your bedroom before going to bed.
Try to go to bed at the same time.
Do not use alcohol to fall asleep. It provides heavy and superficial rest.

If chronic lack of sleep is based on psychological or physiological problems, then you need to turn to professionals. Those people who do not have obvious reasons for poor quality sleep should undergo a full examination.

Folk remedies

Ancient recipes should not be ignored.

Falling asleep and proper rest can be ensured by the following means:

Peony tincture (10%). It is recommended to use it three times a day, 30 drops for 1 month.
Green tea with honey. It should be consumed daily, preferably before bed.
Warm milk with added honey. This is another excellent remedy that normalizes night sleep. It is recommended to drink 1 glass of the drink before bed.

If all the methods described above do not help you relax, you may need special medication treatment. Therefore, consult a doctor who will select adequate therapy.

How much sleep does a person need during the day and what is chronic sleep deprivation? These questions have been of concern to doctors, psychologists, ordinary people and even the military since ancient times. We will also try to understand this issue.

The concept of sleep in ancient times

Previously, it was almost universally believed that sleep was a state in which the soul flies out of the human body and may not even return back.

Almost all ancient civilizations treated dreams with sacred awe. For example, in Ancient Egypt it was believed that a dream was a message from the gods. Almost everywhere there is a belief that sleep is a brief state like death, when a person’s soul flies into unknown distances and sometimes may not return back.

However, in addition to such explanations, some ancient thinkers tried to give some kind of scientific interpretation of this phenomenon and use the sleep state to treat certain diseases. For example, Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle tried to distinguish dreams that arouse illness and those that heal it.

How scientists explain the mechanism of falling asleep

Despite significant progress in studying the structure and functions of the brain, the state of sleep is still a completely unsolved mystery for many serious researchers. Currently, there are quite a lot of theories as to why we sleep and why we need it. The only indisputable fact is that every person spends almost a third of his life in a state of sleep.

It is believed that during wakefulness, certain structures of the brain already begin to produce substances, thanks to the action of which sleep subsequently occurs (for example, melatonin, serotonin and other substances that have not been fully studied).

In general, for the body, falling asleep is a signal to switch to a different mode of functioning and activity, a sign to launch many restoration processes and cleanse cells of various unnecessary substances.

For the nervous system, sleep also means processing and comprehension of the information received during the day, analysis and search for a solution on a subconscious level.

Types of sleep

The process of sleep itself is heterogeneous in its essence. While observing sleeping people, researchers noted a certain cyclical nature of the processes occurring: the presence of alternating periods of slow and fast sleep. In total, about 3–5 such cycles are observed during the night.

REM sleep

Scientists call fast sleep, during which the pupils of the closed eyes move quickly, although the body is motionless and quite relaxed. The electroencephalogram recorded during this period will resemble that of a awake person.

REM sleep is considered the fifth stage of sleep and usually occurs 1–1.5 hours after falling asleep. A person sees beautiful and memorable dreams precisely in this phase, and its duration is about 10 minutes.

Interestingly, REM sleep is most often observed in newborns (they probably need it for the normal development of the nervous system), and over the years its amount decreases significantly.

If a person is deprived of the rapid phase of sleep, which some medications do, then one of the forms of chronic sleep deprivation may develop, when the person will feel exhausted and tired all day, without sleep.

slow sleep

NREM sleep takes up significantly more time in the sleep cycle than REM sleep. From the moment you fall asleep until the onset of REM sleep, it can last about 90 minutes.

During this period, slow alpha waves are recorded on the electroencephalogram, which are gradually replaced by theta waves. The heart rate slows down, blood pressure decreases, and breathing becomes less frequent.

Eventually, so-called delta sleep occurs, which is characterized by the presence of delta waves on the EEG. During such sleep, it is very difficult to wake a person, although it is in this phase that the phenomena of sleepwalking and nocturnal enuresis can be observed.

It is believed that during slow-wave sleep, the main energy costs are replenished, and the brain sorts and processes information that, in its opinion, is necessary for memorization.

What else happens to the body during the night?

Growth hormone is produced - somatotropin (it’s not for nothing that they say that children grow in their sleep).
Prolactin is synthesized, a hormone that ensures the secretion of milk by a nursing mother during the day.
In those suffering from duodenal ulcer, during REM sleep, the level of hydrochloric acid secretion can increase 20 times, which provokes hunger pains at night.
Nocturnal angina attacks become more frequent during REM sleep.
All body systems are restored.

How much sleep does a person need?

An adult needs to sleep 7-8 hours a day, at least 2 of which should be before 24:00.

More than one generation of researchers has tried to answer this question. It is believed that on average an adult needs 7-8 hours of good sleep, 2 of which should occur before 12 o'clock at night. In general, women need 1 hour more sleep than men.

However, the facts are undeniable that for some people a significantly smaller number of hours of sleep is sufficient, while for others even 10 hours of sleep is not enough.

The most important criterion for “getting enough sleep” is that after waking up a person should feel rested and alert. If the rise is accompanied by weakness, bad mood and poor health, then sleep is clearly not enough.

The activity of the thyroid gland plays a huge role in the overall need for sleep. So, with insufficient production of its hormones (hypothyroidism), pathological drowsiness begins to be observed.

Consequences and symptoms of lack of sleep

Depression, decreased concentration, ability to concentrate and highlight the main thing.
Loss of sense of humor, increased irritability.
Hallucinations, lapses in thinking, periodic confusion.
Drowsiness while awake, loss of sense of reality of what is happening.
Dizziness, headaches, periodic fainting.
Decreased immunity, increased susceptibility to cancer and infectious diseases.
A condition similar to .
Increased risk of hypertensive crises, development of diabetes mellitus and diabetes.
Increase in the number of serious errors by medical workers after night duty.
Tendency to accumulate excess body weight (it is believed that if a person sleeps for 5 hours or less, he risks gaining weight by 50 percent or more, since with chronic lack of sleep, glucose is not utilized as muscle energy, but as fat).
Development of insomnia, impotence.

Who or what steals sleep

The most common sleep thief of a modern person is the computer, telephone and TV. Oddly enough, a sedentary lifestyle also plays a very significant role in depriving a sufficient amount of sleep (with physical inactivity, it is very difficult for a person to fall asleep on time, and the need to wake up early is forced by the need to be at work or classes - so the amount of sleep is reduced).

Late and heavy dinners, family quarrels in the evening, taking stimulating drinks, night shifts, overtime work can also steal such precious hours of sleep.

Chronic lack of sleep: how to deal with it

Normalize and put your lifestyle in order: try to go to bed no later than 22-23.00, and wake up 7-8 hours after falling asleep.
During the day - more physical activity.
Do not drink stimulant drinks or alcohol in the second half.
Quit smoking.
Use the bed only for sleeping.
The night before you go to bed, take a short walk in the fresh air, forgive everyone (including yourself): let your emotions subside, let your passions settle down. Find at least 10 reasons to be grateful for this day. Take a warm bath, turn on quiet soothing music, and have a relaxing massage.

Well, if these measures do not help, seek help from a specialist.

Here is a short test that will help you determine whether your body is getting enough sleep.

When the alarm clock rings, do you set the clock to a later time and continue sleeping?
Sometimes you don't hear the call at all?
Do you find it difficult to get out of bed when you wake up?
Do you doze off in public transport, during lectures and meetings?
Do you sleep longer than usual when you don't have to go to work?
Do you lose your temper if your plans fall through?
A glass of alcohol will get you going?
Do you like to take a nap during the day?
Are you acutely aware of the fatigue that has accumulated over the week?

If you answered yes to at least 2 questions, you should reconsider your daily routine. Otherwise it will lead to serious illnesses.

We spend a third of our lives sleeping. Sleep is a regular process of recovery for the body. Healthy and proper sleep is the key to a successful day and good mood. Scientists estimate that sleep duration has decreased by 20% compared to the 19th century, and today approximately 60% of people suffer from chronic sleep deprivation, that is, they regularly sleep less than the genetically prescribed 7-9 hours. And according to researchers, chronic lack of sleep was a consequence of the development of civilization - Edison’s invention of the electric light bulb deprived humanity of normal sleep, consistent with the rhythms of nature.

In 98% of cases, sleep-deprived people are engaged in self-deception and do not understand the serious danger they are exposing their body to. Over the past 10 years, scientists have conducted more than a dozen large studies on the consequences of chronic sleep deficiency. They found out that lack of sleep negatively affects all systems of the body and provokes the occurrence of a number of serious diseases.

Obesity

Lack of sleep provokes the appearance of excess weight. This was confirmed by American scientists who observed 70 thousand women of different ages for 16 years. According to the data they collected, women who slept 5 hours a night were 32% more likely to become overweight and 15% more likely to be obese compared to women who slept at least 7 hours.

Scientists attribute weight gain caused by lack of sleep to an imbalance in the secretion of ghrelin and leptin, hormones responsible for feelings of hunger and satiety. When the production of these hormones is disrupted, a person often experiences an intense feeling of hunger, which, on the contrary, becomes much more difficult to satisfy. Another hormonal disorder associated with lack of sleep is increased production of cortisone, a stress hormone that also stimulates hunger.

Failure to comply with sleep-wake rhythms leads to a decrease in the level of another important hormone - somatotropic hormone, a protein responsible for the ratio of fat to muscle mass and accelerating the metabolism of substances. Intense secretion of this hormone, like many other hormones, occurs periodically and has several peaks during the day (every 3-5 hours). The highest and most predictable peak occurs at night, about an hour or two after falling asleep.

Premature aging

The hormone melatonin plays an important role in maintaining the body's youth and is a powerful antioxidant, which was proven by scientists back in the 1980s. Melatonin neutralizes the destructive effects of oxidative processes, which are the main cause of aging. Being a powerful antioxidant, melatonin penetrates all organs and tissues of the body, affecting its condition as a whole.

The mechanism of antioxidant action is manifested in the fact that melatonin has a pronounced ability to bind free radicals, including hydroxyl radicals and exogenous carcinogens formed during lipid peroxidation, and it activates glutathione peroxidase, a factor that protects the body from free radical damage.

It is noteworthy that the highest concentration of melatonin is observed in the appendix and cecum - this is where the main carcinogens that enter the body with food accumulate.

The synthesis and secretion of melatonin directly depend on illumination - when light hits the retina, the brain gives a command to reduce the synthesis of the hormone. Reducing the amount of light entering the eye has the opposite effect - melatonin production increases.

In humans, 70% of daily melatonin production occurs at night. Peak melatonin production occurs at approximately 2 am. Accordingly, a reduction in night sleep or disruption of the timing of falling asleep leads to a decrease in daily melatonin production and an increased risk of premature aging.

Cancer

Lack of sleep at night can trigger cancer, particularly colon cancer, say experts from Case Medical Center and Case Western University School of Medicine.

The study, published in the journal Cancer in February 2011, involved 1,240 people. 338 of them were diagnosed with colorectal adenoma, a precursor to cancerous tumors. Further study of patients showed that those suffering from adenoma slept less than 6 hours at night, in contrast to representatives of the control group without adenoma, who slept at least 7 hours a day. Thus, scientists concluded that lack of sleep at night increases the risk of developing colorectal disease by almost 50%.

Researchers associate the risk of cancer with a disruption in the production of the aforementioned hormone - melatonin. This hormone, important for the human body, in addition to its antioxidant properties, has the ability to suppress the growth of tumor cells. Melatonin affects the functioning of genes that control the cell cycle, cell reproduction, and intercellular relationships.

The mechanisms of melatonin's effect on tumor growth are diverse: it can influence the synthesis and secretion of pituitary and sex hormones, can modulate the immune response in the presence of tumor cells and have a direct cytotoxic effect. Under the influence of melatonin, in some forms of cancer (breast, ovarian, prostate, etc.), the ability of cells to reproduce decreases and the number of cells dying in the form of apoptosis increases (oncostatic effect).

It is noteworthy that, according to some data, people without vision are not susceptible to cancer. This is due to the fact that in the body of blind people, unlike sighted people, the hormone melatonin is intensively produced around the clock.

Diabetes

Sleep disturbance and the occurrence of type 2 diabetes have a cause-and-effect relationship. This fact was established by scientists from the University of Warwick (Warwickshire, England). For 6 years, they observed 1,455 patients aged 35 to 79 years. All patients previously underwent a clinical examination (measurement of blood pressure, height and weight) and were interviewed about their general health, well-being and sleep patterns. During the study, doctors found that regular sleep less than 6 hours a day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 3 times.

In an article about this study published in the Annals of Epidemiology in December 2010, scientists explain that insufficient or poor-quality sleep triggers random disturbances in fasting glucose, which in turn prevents the body from effectively regulating blood glucose. And this increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus - non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

Shortened life expectancy

Both deficiency and excess sleep - less or more than 6-7 hours a day - increase the risk of premature death. This conclusion was reached by a team of American scientists from several scientific organizations after completing a large-scale study of the effect of sleep duration on mortality. Scientists collected data from 1.1 million patients of both sexes aged 30 to 102 years. The study results were published in February 2002 in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The best life expectancy indicators were found in those patients who slept 7 hours a day. Patients who slept 8 hours a night were 12% more likely to die over the next 6 years.

It also turned out that sleeping too much causes much more harm to health than not getting enough sleep - the average life expectancy of patients who regularly experience sleep deficiency turned out to be longer than the life expectancy of study participants who oversleep.

As the researchers note, episodic insomnia does not affect life expectancy and is more likely associated with depression than with the patient's ill health. At the same time, patients who regularly took sleeping pills were more likely to die earlier than patients who complained of episodes of insomnia.

High blood pressure

Chronic lack of sleep in people over 25 years of age leads to the development of high blood pressure, according to scientists at the University of Chicago. They report the results of a study of 578 patients in a June 2009 article in the Archives of Internal Medicine. According to this work, depriving yourself of just 1 hour of sleep per night for 5 years increases the risk of hypertension by 37%.

In addition, American scientists have once again confirmed the widespread theory that people who need to wake up daily earlier than the traditional 8-9 am are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure and become overweight due to metabolic disorders. Moreover, scientists were able to establish a direct connection between primary lack of sleep and the subsequent development of chronic insomnia, which can only be treated with medication.

Deterioration of vision

Chronic lack of sleep can cause vision problems. This is stated in a review of research by ophthalmologists on the dependence of eye diseases on sleep deficiency. The review was prepared by doctors at the Mayo Clinic (USA) and published in November 2008 in the Mayor Clinic Proceeding.

According to the study, regular sleep deprivation gives rise to glaucoma - the second most common cause of irreversible blindness. A person who does not get enough sleep from time to time can also develop ischemic optic nepropathy. This vascular disease, often occurring upon waking, affects the optic nerve and is characterized by sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye. Doctors call the most common eye disease associated with lack of sleep papilloedema - swelling of the optic nerve due to increased intracranial pressure. As a rule, the consequence of such edema is blurred vision.

Source: Mayor Clinic Proceeding, November 2008

Deterioration of men's health

A week of lack of sleep in men (daily sleep no more than 5 hours) leads to the aging of the male body by 10-15 years. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the University of Chicago Medical Center (USA). The study results were published in June 2011 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

10 volunteers were selected for the examination - men without endocrine disorders and excess weight, under the age of 24 years. For a week, scientists monitored the level of testosterone in the blood of volunteers who slept no more than 5 hours daily. As the final tests showed, within 7 days the hormone content decreased by 10-15%. Provided normal sleep, testosterone concentration also decreases over time, but much more slowly - by 1-2% per year. Accordingly, to reduce it by 10-15% it is necessary for 10-15 years to pass.

As scientists emphasize, disruption of testosterone synthesis seriously affects the male body - the hormone regulates male sexual behavior, reproductive function, muscle mass and bone density.

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), June 2011

Colds

One of the consequences of lack of sleep is a significant decrease in immunity. This was confirmed by American scientists from Carnegie Mallon University (USA), who published the results of their study in January 2009 in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. During the experiment, they were convinced that people who sleep less than 7 hours at night are 3 times more likely to catch a cold than those who sleep 8 hours or more.

Between 2000 and 2004, scientists conducted an experiment involving 153 adult volunteers - men and women, whose average age was 37 years. During it, participants were injected into their noses with drops containing a virus that causes an upper respiratory tract infection. They were observed for 5 days, and after 30 days, blood samples were taken to test for antibodies to the virus. The results showed that the less sleep a person got, the more likely they were to get a cold. It also turned out that the quality of sleep also affects the state of immunity. Volunteers who suffered from insomnia caught a cold 5.5 times more often than those who did not have sleep problems.

"A possible explanation for the link between sleep and vulnerability to colds is that sleep disruption affects the regulation of anti-inflammatory protein cytokines, histamine, and other substances that are released in response to infection," the scientists wrote.

Mental health

Lack of sleep can adversely affect not only a person’s physical but also mental health. A study published in March 2007 in the journal Sleep suggests that insufficient sleep affects the interaction between a person's emotions and cognition in making moral judgments.

The study, conducted at the Walter Reed Army Institute, involved 26 healthy adults who were asked to make judgments about the “morality” of certain actions or situations. Study participants answered questions while asleep and after 53 hours of continuous wakefulness.

As it turned out, prolonged sleep deprivation influenced the time it took participants to make decisions in certain situations. They also had difficulty discerning whether an action was morally right. And in the style of judgments about the presence or absence of morality in certain actions, intolerance and some permissiveness appeared.

Spare yourself for your own sake. Spare your ears, spare your eyes, spare your thoughts. What have you heard after midnight that you would consider more valuable than your own sleep? Coco Chanel

We do not always sleep as much as we want - many are faced with such a phenomenon as lack of sleep. It can arise either by our own grace or as a result of external factors.

Sometimes our weaknesses interfere with proper sleep: for example, the attraction to nightclubs and the Internet. Sometimes there are objective circumstances: preparing for exams, shift work, a restless baby. In some cases, a sleep-deprived individual is actually a victim: the lack of sleep is associated with insomnia. But no matter what the reasons are for a person’s lack of sleep, it is very harmful to him.

Are you constantly sleep deprived? So know this: your body is suffering, it feels bad, and by leaving the problem without a solution, you are ruining the future for it and at the same time for yourself. Find out what the dangers of lack of sleep are in this article.

Symptoms of sleep deprivation

Modesty makes a man, scars make a man... Lack of sleep is clearly not one of the factors that will make you more attractive in the eyes of others and your own - except that it will cause pity.

A collective image of a person suffering from sleep deprivation symptoms:

This condition is very unpleasant and even painful. Signs of sleep deprivation resemble those of a recent flu.

Feeling the approach of the flu, any person will immediately call the doctor and stay at home instead of going somewhere. But when such symptoms occur due to lack of sleep, most people treat them as normal. Waking up, people with effort overcome the unimaginable attraction of a warm pillow and stand up. Then they try to quickly eliminate the consequences of lack of sleep, remove the shadows under the eyes, pour a portion into themselves, and go to work or school in a depressed mood...

Sometimes lack of sleep is a rare event in life, but how many people put up with its presence every day! Fatigue and lack of sleep accompany them for weeks, months, years in a row - and they do not try to change anything in their lives.

You cannot die from lack of sleep – at least not if you don’t completely deprive yourself of sleep. But if you don’t sleep enough for a long time, think about what the lack of sleep threatens you in the future...

Consequences of lack of sleep: immediate and long-term

Communication problems

This is the first thing that lack of sleep leads to. One night without sleep will not cause monstrous harm to your health, but even a short lack of sleep spoils your mood, kills the desire to communicate, destroys cheerfulness and a sense of humor. A person is increasingly seized by the desire to isolate himself from society (preferably in his own bedroom) and reduce all types of activity to nothing.

Constant lack of sleep makes anyone detached, apathetic and withdrawn. As a result, a person may find that his friends have stopped calling him, that he hasn’t been invited to meetings, dates or birthdays for a long time... And it’s all due to lack of sleep!

Psychological problems, depression

Sometimes lack of sleep is the cause of psychological problems. Sleep is a complex process that occurs under the influence of special hormones and itself affects a person’s hormonal background. If it is missing, these mechanisms are disrupted. Very noticeable changes occur in the processes of formation and use of serotonin - the hormone of happiness, joy and calm.

A person who sleeps very little ceases to sensibly assess reality. He perceives it in gloomy tones, ignores pleasant events, stops making plans for the future, because “he realizes the futility of all efforts.” Frequent symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation are that a person becomes gloomy and paranoid, begins to harass others with his pessimism, or even becomes depressed.

Among people suffering from insomnia, constant lack of sleep and fatigue, there are several times more suicides! Worth thinking...

Career problems

Every day, an army of zombies with their eyes closed from lack of sleep goes to work. What are they thinking about there? Until 10-11 am, they often cannot think at all: they gather their strength, try to overcome the symptoms of lack of sleep, and get involved in the work process. Then, finally, they rush into the embrasure of everyday affairs. But after lunch, fatigue intensifies, and the remaining 2-3 hours are spent constantly looking at the clock and hoping to return home soon.

Would an employee who is suffering from drowsiness do anything beyond his normal duties? He can hardly cope with the necessary things. Will he think about promotion, career growth, self-development and self-improvement? No - the sad and predictable train of thoughts will naturally lead him home, closer to bed and long-awaited peace.

The sad and inevitable consequence of sleep deprivation is that it subjugates. A person becomes unsociable, stops believing in his own strength, does not try and does not take risks. He is not in the mood to fight for success, does not want change and the worries associated with it, as a result of which he often refuses even tempting opportunities that come his way. People who are desperate for sleep rarely succeed in their careers. And sometimes they even lose their jobs. The frequent consequences of lack of sleep - absent-mindedness, inattention, mistakes - are unlikely to please even the most loyal boss.

In 2008, on board a plane flying from Gogolulu to Hilo, both pilots fell asleep during the flight due to fatigue and lack of sleep. The plane flew an extra 48 kilometers, after which the pilots woke up and landed the plane safely. No harm done. But do you think these people were able to keep their jobs?

Problems with appearance, premature aging, deterioration in physical fitness

The above troubles are not all that lack of sleep leads to. Women should be especially concerned about the fact that lack of sleep causes deterioration in appearance. Light shadows under the eyes turn into “bruises”, the face becomes somewhat swollen (especially in the area of the eyes and brow ridges), and takes on a tired, “crumpled” appearance. And no amount of eye drops, foundation or concealing gels can completely eliminate this!

Men will not like the fact that regular sleep deprivation noticeably deteriorates physical fitness. Firstly, the feeling of fatigue and lethargy after unproductive sleep discourages the desire to actively engage in sports. Secondly, lack of sleep reduces the body's production of the hormone somatostatin, which is responsible for muscle growth.

Also, lack of sleep causes the accumulation of excess weight and provokes obesity. In the article “” a whole section is devoted to this.

Representatives of both sexes age faster with chronic lack of sleep. Due to hormonal disorders, the formation of collagen and elastin is disrupted - fibers that form the framework of the skin, are responsible for its elasticity and protect against the appearance of wrinkles. A person who sleeps less than expected often looks 5-7-10 years older than someone who practices normal healthy sleep.

Take a look at these photos: they were taken 3 years apart. He is an early morning news anchor in Japan. He came to work at 2-3 o'clock in the morning, slept little, and this did not go unnoticed by him...

Health problems

Due to changes in the body that accompany constant lack of sleep, a person may experience the following health problems:

Impotence, decreased libido
Immune suppression, increased overall morbidity
Increased risk and acceleration of the development of cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke)
Increased likelihood of hormone-dependent cancer (breast cancer in women, prostate cancer in men).

The consequences of sleep deprivation are too annoying and serious to endure or put yourself at risk of experiencing. How many unique opportunities, dates, hours of communication, gushing ideas, friendships are lost due to lack of sleep! Stop ruining your life. Think about ways to ensure you get enough sleep.

And finally - a slightly paraphrased aphorism from the classic: “What is the best remedy for lack of sleep? Sleep!"

- this is not luxury, but only a way to restore strength after a hard day at work.

Everyone is trying to squeeze as much material benefit out of time as possible. Theoretically we know that need more sleep But the constant busyness of some people does not allow them to relax. And there are more and more such people.

This can be blamed on the capitalist system, the desire for certain heights in life, or the basic desire to solve one’s financial problems. But we'll talk about how terrible there may be consequences from deliberate deprivation.

Change your appearance

Sounds terrible, doesn't it? However, scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have confirmed through research that lack of sleep negatively affects appearance. This may include pale skin, drooping corners of the mouth, swollen eyelids and other signs of deterioration in appearance.

The study involved ten people who were awake during 31 o'clock. Their photographs were then carefully examined by 40 observers. The conclusion was unanimous: all participants looked unhealthy, unhappy and tired after such a long period of insomnia.

Drunk

You won't be literally drunk if you don't get enough sleep. It was found that 17 o'clock continuous wakefulness correspond to the behavioral model of a person whose blood contains 0,05% alcohol.

Simply put, drowsiness can be similar to being drunk and can lead to decreased concentration, poor thinking, and slower reactions.

Loss of creativity

Let's say you planned to create a grandiose Internet project like Facebook or VKontakte, but at the same time you are chronically lacking sleep. Scientists say that in this case you have little chance.

The basis was research conducted on military personnel. They didn't sleep two days, after which people have significantly The ability to think creatively and come up with something new has decreased. The study was published by the British Journal of Psychology in 1987.

Increased blood pressure

There is growing evidence that sleep deprivation leads to significant increased blood pressure, and, consequently, to a deterioration in well-being.

Moreover, in hypertensive patients, non-compliance with sleep norms can provoke a sharp rise in blood pressure.

Decreased intellectual abilities

Not only do they decrease due to lack of sleep intellectual abilities, In addition, memory deterioration is also observed, which can negatively affect the quality of life in general and professional activity in particular.

Increased risk of disease

During sleep, the immune system produces cytokine proteins, which then “fight” with various types of viruses. The number of cytokine proteins increases when your body needs protection from bacteria.

By depriving ourselves of sleep, we become more prone to illness and viral attacks, because the level of cytokines falls.

Premature aging

You can spend a lot of money on magical beauty products and treatments to stop the body's aging process, but this will not help if you are deprived normal sleep.

The stress a person experiences due to lack of sleep increases the production of a hormone called cortisol

This hormone increases sebum secretion and promotes skin aging. This is why sleep plays a key role in the process skin regeneration. While you sleep, cortisol levels return to normal and give cells time to regenerate.

According to the results of a study in which women from 30 to 49 years old who did not have enough sleep took part, skin tissue age twice as fast wrinkles and other pathologies appear.

Excess weight

A person who does not have adequate sleep tends to be overweight which is confirmed by numerous studies. These tests showed that people who sleep less than four hours a day, are likely to suffer from obesity 73%.

And hormones are to blame again. Hunger in our brain is controlled by ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin sends a signal to the brain when the body requires reinforcement. A leptin, on the contrary, when produced in fatty tissues, it reduces appetite and causes a feeling of satiety.

When you are tired, the level of ghrelin in the blood increases, and the level of leptin decreases.

Freezing

Sleep deprivation slows down metabolism(metabolism), which in turn reduces body temperature. As a result, the person quickly freezes.

Mental disorders

According to statistics, patients with sleep disorders in four times greater risk of developing a wide range of mental disorders than people who have normal rest.