The Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Mental and Physical Health

No matter the theories and the societal facts that might have arises to prove this otherwise, the truth still remains that sleep is a very important of human health that is crucial in Sustaining both our mental and physical health. The pressure amounted to individuals from the society nowadays has made people to sacrifice their sleep for either carrying out task in their working place, for social activities or even for entertainment purposes.

In as much some of the time, it is really quite needed but I will say that there is so much of effect that sleep deprivation causes to us that most of us are not even aware of. Sleep deprivation can go a long way in affecting both our mental and even physical health and the most unfortunate thing is many of us are not really aware. Even me, I was not actually aware at first until my eyes opened to this thanks to research and information available.

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Let me even first of all start from the mental health consequences as I see that is what many of us suffer from in the society nowadays. I will bet it with you that many of us is not aware that our brain needs sleep in order to process information and even perform the tasks we give it every day like the problem solving tasks. When sleep is actually not enough, there is something it causes which is it impaired the cognitive processes. Some of us will not actually understand the effect but many people who do not have sufficient sleep will actually find it hard to concentrate or even make adequate decisions as their brain is not in the right state.

Not only that, I have come to discover that sleep deprivation can even cause the ability of the brain not to be able to retain information any longer as before and if this even continues can lead to the person having conditions like dementia and other diseases associated to the brain. I know you want to attend to all tasks, but can you do your favour a massive good and always try to get sufficient sleep every day no matter the tasks or activities you want to attend to.

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Sleep deprivation also as related to the mental health effects I am talking about can cause mood swings and even leads those set of individuals to suffer from constant anxiety and depression. This happens because their body stress response system which is associated to the brain is been disrupted and so the brain ability to be able to regulate our emotions will no longer function as expected any longer.

Let me briefly also talk about the physical health effects of sleep deprivation also and the first one I will be making mention of is the fact that it affects your immune system. You are super shocked right? That was how I was also shocked the first time I heard about it. When you are no more having adequate sleep, it can actually makes your body to be opened to all manner of illnesses like flu, heart diseases and even obesity.

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Research I carried out makes me to understand that cardiovascular health is caused because of lack of sleep. When you have less sleep compared to the standard and medically recommended 8 hours of sleep, it can give you higher risk of suffering from stroke, heart attacks and even hypertension. Do you know that sleep helps your body blood to be regulated to all part of the body and so when the body can not maintain those regulatory processes, it can lead to cardiovascular issues.

Let me also add to it that when you are not able to get adequate sleep, it have it's effects on your weight and also can also affect insulin resistance. This can now leads to diabetes and can even be so difficult for you to be able to manage your sugar level. The funny thing about this effect is the fact that you might not see it manifest it instantly but in the long run, it begins to affect your health at the end of the day actually.

Let me conclude by saying that you need to give importance to your sleep. I know you have a whole lot of things to do and attend to but not at the expense of your quality sleep you should be having. The funniest thing is the fact that you can not attend to all these tasks and that is why you still need to create time for yourself. Adequate sleep helps to put your sleep in the right control it should be. Don't pursue work at the expense of your health. As always remember that health will always be wealth.

References Links

• https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health

• https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sleep-affects-mental-health-4783067

• https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body#effects

• https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-mental-health

• https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects#:~:text=Sleep%20deficiency%20can%20cause%20problems,time%2C%20and%20make%20more%20mistakes..