How many times did you experience chronic sleep loss this year? Whether it’s due to insomnia, health conditions, personal reasons or a hectic career, going without the proper amount of does hurt you. Check out the side effects of sleep loss that Cosmopolitan Magazine wants you to know about:
1. Defective creativity: Studies show that during sleep our brains are reorganizing information, skipping snooze makes it much harder to come up with great ideas.
2. Stress: Our body naturally releases the stress hormone cortisol when you don’t get enough sleep, leading to serious health issues.
3. Weakened immune system and vaccinations: Sleep deprivation makes it more likely you’ll get sick or develop an infection. In one study, people who slept less than 6 hours a night also had a 11.5% higher chance of leaving unprotected after a vaccination.
4. Moodiness: Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Chronic sleep loss intensifies negative emotions, putting a huge strain your relationships.
5. Elevated blood pressure: Sleep deprivation puts a lot of stress on your body and brain, causing your blood pressure to significantly rise, overtime it damage your kidneys, heart, arteries and lead to a stroke or loss of vision.
6. Higher risk of death: Getting less than 5 hours of sleep each night increases your risk by 15% to die from just about any serious disease you can think of, including cancer and heart disease, according to 3 large studies.
7. Lower GPA: Less sleep means lower grades as your brain needs the proper amount of deep sleep to store memories and solidify everything you learn each day.
8. Slower reaction times: It takes significantly longer to get your work done without sleep.
9. Acne overload: Breakouts are pretty much guaranteed as inflammation in your body increases and your skin structure is disrupted.
10. Sex drought: When you are fatigued, sleep wins!
11. Tremors and twitchy eyes: Your shaky hand is not a figment of your imagination; sleep loss makes precise movements much more difficult. Plus, fatigue can cause a weird looking eye condition called nystagmus, which causes your eyes to move involuntarily.
12. A tired partner: When you aren’t sleeping well or climb in bed hours after your partner, it’s likely that you are diminishing their sleep duration and quality, leading to side effects listed here.
13. Poor decisions: There can be a lot to regret without sleep, including going over budget, taking risks, forgetting deadlines and even your latest love match.
14. Weight gain: Sleep deprivation interferes with important hormones that regulate our appetite and lets you know when you are full, make it very likely that you will pack on unwanted pounds as you overeat.
15. Fertility issues: Although there is no solid evidence, sleep loss causes stress and knocks your circadian rhythm (your natural body clock) off track, which can reduce reproductive hormones.
16. Depression: If you are suffering from insomnia, you are more likely to be depressed.
17. Higher risk of car accidents: Drowsy driving is considered more risky than drunk driving by many sleep experts, physicians and scientists.
18. Premature aging and dry skin: With so much extra cortisol, the stress hormone, in your system, collagen isn’t able to keep your skin hydrated and smooth. Say hello to wrinkles along with flaky, pale skin. Your skin sensitivity also increases, worsening existing skin conditions such as eczema.
Regardless of your reason for stacking up on sleep, it’s worth it to improve the overall quality of your life. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night for optimal performance levels.
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