Sleep deprivation is the reason you feel groggy in the morning and find yourself reaching for that cup of coffee before you’re willing to speak to anyone who crosses your path. However, not getting enough sleep has much more of a far reaching impact than simply making the morning difficult. It affects a multitude of facets of your life and can have detrimental results.
Sleeping is the time when your body removes adenosine from itself, detoxing it to rejuvenate and increase alertness. When the body stays awake for long periods, it isn’t given this chance and the adenosine builds up. This results in an increased feeling of drowsiness. While being drowsy can slow down your ability to get projects finished in a timely fashion, it can also place you in danger when on the road. Drowsiness has a direct effect on the time it takes for you to react, which can be detrimental while driving. In addition, when a driver is tired they have been shown to have more aggressive reactions to others, leading to increased chances of road rage. Unfortunately, fatigue is a major factor in accidents, with over 100,000 crashes in the nation attributed to it each year.
Drowsiness isn’t the only result of missing your ZZZs; it also has a substantial impact on your mental health. When you don’t have enough rest, you are five times more likely to develop some level of depression than people who get a full night of regeneration. Anxiety disorders also become prevalent in those who are ill-rested, with the chances of a disorder developing jumping to 20 times that of others. Sleep also supports the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, your emotional center. The amygdala is responsible for feelings of fear, anger, stress, and other potentially explosive reactions, while the prefrontal cortex is responsible for keeping these responses in check. When the body loses the tools to balance these, the result can be in increase in volatility and heightened emotions.
Sleep has been shown to have a direct effect on your health in other areas, as well. It can reduce brain plasticity, which means you may experience a loss of brain tissue and deterioration within your brain’s gray matter. It has also been linked to cardio problems leading to physical issues such as heart disease. Your risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardio-related ailments can be greatly reduced with an increase in quality sleep. Learn more about how sleep deprivation can affect your safety and overall health, and the benefits of getting more rest by checking out the following infographic.
