In an ideal world we'd all be getting 8 blissful hours of sleep a night. However with real-life pressures including work, stress, children and other day to day factors, many of us often find that we are not as well rested as we would like. Other than being annoying or inconvenient, sleep deprivation can have long term effects on our health. It is important to recognise the signs of being sleep deprived to ensure you take positive steps towards getting a bit more shut-eye.
Watch out for these 5 signs that may be an indication of sleep deprivation
1. You're always hungry
If the brain cannot get enough energy due to your lack of sleep, it will need it from food. In addition, a lack of sleep can mess with key appetite hormones – ghrelin (the 'hunger hormone') and leptin (the 'satiety or feeling full hormone'). Increased ghrelin production can leave you craving sugary or fatty foods, whereas the disruption of leptin can stop you feeling the signals of when to stop eating. Over a period of time, this increased appetite combined with a slower metabolism – due to increased insulin resistance – can lead to weight gain.
2. You're emotions are out of whack
When we're exhausted we tend to be less motivated, act without thinking and are less inhibited with our actions and reactions. Being deprived of sleep can make us feel out of control of our emotions, being over-reactive to emotional stimuli that ordinarily would not affect us to the same extent. This may provoke feelings of anger, sadness, anxiety or even giddiness. We are more likely to lash out at others or say something on impulse without processing things thoroughly due to irritability and lower tolerance.
3. You're unable to focus
It's much harder to manage projects or solve problems when you've not had enough sleep. Lack of sleep hinders your ability to react quickly and also affects high level cognitive processing, making you feel 'fuzzy headed' and unable to think clearly. This extends to memory, when we are suffering from lack of sleep we don't pay as much attention when our brain is trying to commit things to memory. This makes it harder to retain facts, or even simply remember where you put your keys. Your motor skills might also be off, being more prone to trip or bump into things due to decreased concentration and lower reaction times. You also might have trouble physically focusing your eyes as fatigue causes eye muscles such as the ocular muscle (moves the eye up/down and side to side) and the ciliary muscle (helps focus the eye) tire out, making it less easy to see clearly.
4. You're feeling under the weather
Your immune system suffers when you're sleep deprived, meaning your body is less able to fight off infections. Cytokines (proteins that help protect against infection and inflammation) are produced whilst you sleep, and being deprived of sleep will increase your chances of catching the common cold. As well as getting sick more often, a lack of sleep can disrupt hormonal balance and result in spots and breakouts. Damaged skin cells are repaired during sleep, and collagen is produced which helps prevent excess wrinkling and keep skin looking young and healthy – it's called 'beauty sleep' for a reason!
5. You're experiencing microsleep
We've all experienced it, your eyes become droopy, your head begins to nod, there's a brief lapse of consciousness then suddenly you enter wakefulness again with a jerk. This phenomenon is known as microsleep – where you enter a temporary state of unconsciousness for a fraction of a second up to a period of 10-30 seconds without realising it or meaning to. It's your body's way of forcing what it needs – sleep – despite your best efforts. At best this can be inconvenient, if you're trying to listen to a lecture or finish what you're reading. But at worst microsleep can be very dangerous, and even life threatening, especially when it occurs during tasks which require alertness such as driving or operating machinery.
Watch out for these 5 signs that may be an indication of sleep deprivation
1. You're always hungry
If the brain cannot get enough energy due to your lack of sleep, it will need it from food. In addition, a lack of sleep can mess with key appetite hormones – ghrelin (the 'hunger hormone') and leptin (the 'satiety or feeling full hormone'). Increased ghrelin production can leave you craving sugary or fatty foods, whereas the disruption of leptin can stop you feeling the signals of when to stop eating. Over a period of time, this increased appetite combined with a slower metabolism – due to increased insulin resistance – can lead to weight gain.
2. You're emotions are out of whack
When we're exhausted we tend to be less motivated, act without thinking and are less inhibited with our actions and reactions. Being deprived of sleep can make us feel out of control of our emotions, being over-reactive to emotional stimuli that ordinarily would not affect us to the same extent. This may provoke feelings of anger, sadness, anxiety or even giddiness. We are more likely to lash out at others or say something on impulse without processing things thoroughly due to irritability and lower tolerance.
3. You're unable to focus
It's much harder to manage projects or solve problems when you've not had enough sleep. Lack of sleep hinders your ability to react quickly and also affects high level cognitive processing, making you feel 'fuzzy headed' and unable to think clearly. This extends to memory, when we are suffering from lack of sleep we don't pay as much attention when our brain is trying to commit things to memory. This makes it harder to retain facts, or even simply remember where you put your keys. Your motor skills might also be off, being more prone to trip or bump into things due to decreased concentration and lower reaction times. You also might have trouble physically focusing your eyes as fatigue causes eye muscles such as the ocular muscle (moves the eye up/down and side to side) and the ciliary muscle (helps focus the eye) tire out, making it less easy to see clearly.
4. You're feeling under the weather
Your immune system suffers when you're sleep deprived, meaning your body is less able to fight off infections. Cytokines (proteins that help protect against infection and inflammation) are produced whilst you sleep, and being deprived of sleep will increase your chances of catching the common cold. As well as getting sick more often, a lack of sleep can disrupt hormonal balance and result in spots and breakouts. Damaged skin cells are repaired during sleep, and collagen is produced which helps prevent excess wrinkling and keep skin looking young and healthy – it's called 'beauty sleep' for a reason!
5. You're experiencing microsleep
We've all experienced it, your eyes become droopy, your head begins to nod, there's a brief lapse of consciousness then suddenly you enter wakefulness again with a jerk. This phenomenon is known as microsleep – where you enter a temporary state of unconsciousness for a fraction of a second up to a period of 10-30 seconds without realising it or meaning to. It's your body's way of forcing what it needs – sleep – despite your best efforts. At best this can be inconvenient, if you're trying to listen to a lecture or finish what you're reading. But at worst microsleep can be very dangerous, and even life threatening, especially when it occurs during tasks which require alertness such as driving or operating machinery.
No comments:
Post a Comment