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Effects of sleep deprivation on your body

There is nothing as disturbing as not being able to sleep well at night. The environment may be peaceful and serene but if you have insomnia, then we’re afraid you may not catch any sleep. At that time, you won’t realize the seriousness of the situation. However, in the morning and the rest of the day, that’s when you feel all the negative impacts sleep deprivation can have on your life. Missing out on the vital 8 to 9 hours of sleep every night will do more than make you feel disoriented and grumpy. There are both long term and short term effects, keep reading this article to find more information about sleep deprivation. Also, we recommend you to click here if you want to learn more about this topic.

Slows down your immune system

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We all know the immune system is important for the protection of our bodies from illnesses and pathogens. The immune system produces infection-fighting substances such as cytokines while you are asleep. This means that your immune system rejuvenates itself and prepares to fight infections during sleep. Lack of sleep will prevent it from rejuvenating itself. In this case, you will lack the ability to effectively fight off infections and it will take longer before you recover from an illness.

It ages your skin

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Nowadays, both men and women are concerned about their looks and in particular the health of their skin. It is no longer a women’s agenda to have glowing and flawless skin. Whichever the gender you belong to, sleep deprivation can greatly affect the health of your skin. A few sleepless nights are enough to make your skin appear pale and the eyes puffy. Chronic insomnia mostly leads to fine lines, dark circles around the eyes and lackluster skin.

What happens is the body produces more cortisol when you are not getting enough sleep. Cortisol is basically a stress hormone. When released in large amounts it breaks down the skin collagen which is the protein that works to keep it smooth and radiant. Therefore, lack of sleep can really impact your skin and is an issue that has to be rectified early. Otherwise, you will start looking older than you really are.

It can make you gain weight

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It may sound odd but sleep deprivation may have something to do with you having a weight gain. It is a great risk factor in addition to excessive eating and not exercising. Generally, sleep impacts the levels of two hormones in your body. These are leptin and ghrelin. These hormones control the feelings of fullness and hunger. Leptin signals to your brain that you have already eaten enough food. On the other hand, ghrelin stimulates your appetite.

If you are suffering from sleep deprivation, the brain tends to reduce the levels of leptin hormone and instead raises ghrelin. The lack of balance in these hormones may be the reason behind your craving for snacks especially later in the night. The worst part is you will tend to crave high fat or carbohydrate-rich foods.

Furthermore, when you are not sleeping enough your energy levels will definitely be down. For this reason, you won’t have the energy and motivation to exercise. Reduced physical activity and increased appetite is bound to lead to weight gain over time.

Sleep deprivation kills sex drive

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According to some specialists, more cases of low libido and lack of interest in sex are reported in sleep-deprived patients. The attributed causes are less energy level, sleepiness, and more tension. Also, the production of certain hormones such as testosterone is dependent on quality and uninterrupted sleep. Tossing and turning throughout the night will affect the production of this hormone. Low testosterone levels may be to blame for a lower sex drive.

It can result in depression

Insomnia is one of the contributing factors to symptoms of depression in a number of people. According to a 2005 sleep in America poll, people diagnosed with depression and anxiety were more prone to sleeping less than 6 hours every night.

Insomnia and depression go hand in hand. This is because sleep deprivation only aggravates depression symptoms. Therefore, when you are depressed, it will be very difficult to catch any sleep at night. As a matter of fact, treating insomnia can greatly help alleviate depressions and its symptoms.