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It Affects How Your Mind Works
Sleep is critical for the formation of the neural pathways that create memories – and also for your ability to retrieve them while you’re awake. You might have noticed that when you’re tired is when it’s most difficult for you to learn something new or even pay attention.
Ultimately, a lack of sleep will compromise your creativity, your ability to make decisions or solve problems effectively. The lasting repercussions from these things are very high.
It Affects Your Mood
You might have noticed how cranky, irritable, or sensitive you are when you feel tired (it happens the same with babies and children). More insidious is if you haven’t realized this and attribute it to other factors such as not having your morning coffee or a difficult project. Practice body checks where you feel your energy lacking or muscles tense.
Oftentimes we think this is the cause of something else when really you just need more sleep on a regular basis because when you don’t have enough sleep, it’s normal to become more reactive to stress than usual. This can affect your relationships with friends, family, and co-workers, compromising your quality of life. Ultimately, sleep deprivation can even lead to depressing moods.
It Affects Your Reaction Time
Studies have shown that going 19 hours without sleep can compromise your speed, accuracy, and motor reaction time as much as if you were legally drunk. Naturally, this can increase your risk of having a car accident, avoiding physical harm, as well as performing badly at other tasks involving quick thinking and coordination.
Sleep deprivation is not only bad for your health, but it can also be dangerous for you and the people around you. Therefore consider having enough sleep as a matter of responsibility and plan ahead to make sure you get it, especially in times when you need the most focus and coordination.
It Affects The Way You Look
A constant lack of sleep can lead to premature wrinkling, dark circles, and sagging of your skin. This happens partly because cortisol (a stress hormone that’s released when you’re sleep-deprived) breaks down collagen, which keeps your skin smooth.
You’re also going to be hunched over and shivering – why is that? Have you ever noticed that you feel colder than usual when you’re tired and want nothing more than to be wrapped in a blanket? Believe it or not, that happens because sleep is essential for body temperature regulation too!
It Affects Your Heart
Sleeping fewer than six hours a night can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure or worsen an existing condition of high blood pressure which affects your heart. This means that over time skimping on sleep can increase your odds of developing cardiovascular disease.
If you’re having difficulty falling and staying asleep, look into additional measures to remedy this. It’s not only your appearance and sharpness at stake – it’s your long-term health too!
It Affects Your Appetite
Without enough sleep, your appetite can go into overdrive. That’s one of the reasons why is so important to maintain a healthy sleep routine. When you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to feel hungrier than usual and especially crave high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods.
The reason is that your body misjudges how full you feel when you’ve been awake for so long. It thinks it must be time to eat again which of course leads to unwanted weight gain. Part of an essential diet to stay fit and healthy includes improving your sleeping habits.
It Affects Your Immune System
When you’re tired and even moderately sleep-deprived, your immune system function is compromised. This can leave you vulnerable to catching colds, the flu, and other infectious illnesses or even to just recover from them.
Having enough sleep is essential for your body to function right. If you notice that you’re always catching colds and feeling vulnerable in your environment, then you should analyze your routine and your hours of sleep per day.
SEE ALSO: How Bed Linens Influences Our Sleep
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