Sleep Deprivation
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” Warren Zevon, Rock Star, dead at 56
Ultimately, death will come sooner when sleep is sacrificed. Still, sleep deprivation has become common in our society today. The CDC has even classified sleep deprivation as a public health epidemic.
Many people are sacrificing sleep for other activities in their busy 24/7 lives. Rock tours, work demands, family obligations, medical conditions and sleep disorders all contribute to this sleepless epidemic.
Most of the time, the number of hours restoring the body with sleep is not enough. Other times, the quality – or depth – of sleep is not up to par. Either way, a dangerous sleep debt can accumulate that needs to be repaid…or else.
Sleep deprivation effects
The consequences of an excessive sleep debt are not pretty…
1. Accidents happen!
And they sometimes turn into catastrophes. The partial nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island, the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, and the massive oil spill from the Exxon Valdez all had sleep deprivation listed as a significant contributing factor.
On the road, more than one in six fatal car crashes are caused by drivers who are sleep deprived. The death toll from driving drowsy is second only to driving drunk. (2013, Czeisler) Sleepiness slows reaction time and impairs judgment – just like drugs or alcohol.
And in the workplace, sleeplessness causes accidents to multiply exponentially. For example, sleep-deprived on-call residents made 300% more fatigue-related medical errors leading to patient death than those residents with less intense work hours.
2. Health is jeopardized!
The health consequences of sleep deprivation seem endless. Studies show that diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and cancer are all linked to sleep debts.
High insulin resistance, a key risk factor for diabetes, was found in the shortest sleepers, according to one 2012 study.
The risk of stroke was four times higher for those who were deprived of sleep, according to a three-year Alabama study. Poor sleepers also had a 48% greater risk of developing or dying from heart disease, says a 2011 Warwick study.
Prostate cancer rates of sleepless men were twice the rate of those who slept well, noted a study recently published in 2013. In addition, sleep deprivation was linked to more aggressive breast cancers in another study.
3. Depression lurks!
With sleep deprivation, depression is usually right around the corner.
The most common contributor to sleep deprivation, insomnia, has the strongest link to depression. People who suffer from chronic insomnia are ten times more likely to develop depression than those who sleep well, according to a 2005 study.
And unfortunately, insomnia and depression feed on one another. While the loss of sleep often adds to the symptoms of depression, being depressed makes it much more difficult to get good night’s sleep.
4. Weight increases!
Sleep deprivation leads to an increase in appetite. The body craves sugars and comfort foods to spike its energy levels. The result is weight-gain, diabetes and obesity at a rate significantly higher than those who get adequate sleep.
Even at six hours or less of sleep per night, the resulting sleep debt increases the blood level of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin. At the same time, the lack of sleep stymies the production of leptin – a key hormone needed to regulate food intake and portion control.
In addition, sleep deprivation hinders the body’s ability to properly process insulin, making it difficult to control blood sugar and energy levels.
5. Skin ages faster!
Sleep debt can cause a face to look a decade older because of premature aging. Without adequate sleep, the skin loses its ability to repair and revitalize itself. Sleeplessness also makes the skin vulnerable to numerous disorders like eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis.
With sleep deprivation, researchers tell us that more fine lines form, skin loses elasticity and uneven pigmentation develop. This is because the body releases excess cortisol, a stress hormone that accelerates the aging process. Cortisol stunts the formation of collagen, which is the skin’s major structural component. Without adequate collagen production, the body cannot properly maintain its skin’s elasticity and integrity.
6. Memories disappear!
Remembering a name is difficult enough. Add on some years and a chronic lack of sleep – and now remembering can be downright impossible.
Apparently, the brain does not even get a chance to process memories into permanent storage when you come up short on sleep. The memories get stuck in short-term storage because of the low quality of deep sleep. Before these memories ever get a chance to get saved to permanent storage, they are wiped out and overwritten by “new” memories.
7. Poor decisions are made!
Telling the difference between good and bad is a lot tougher when suffering from sleep deprivation. Social situations also become more difficult to navigate and can lead to regrets and embarrassing results.
Priorities in the brain’s chemistry change when the body is deprived of sleep. Instead of maintaining the parts of the brain responsible for thinking and reasoning, the body’s energies are directed to the brain function that keeps a person awake. And because of this, bad deals, bad tempers and bad decisions are often the result.
8. Sex takes a dive!
Poor sleep means poor sexual responses in both women and men. Along with decreasing energy levels and increasing tensions, the sexual difficulties that arise due to sleep deprivation do not bode well for active libidos.
Testosterone production, a key influencer in a person’s sex drive, is stunted by the lack of sleep. With men, erectile dysfunction adds to the sleepless problem. The lack of sleep also negatively affects arousal and lubrication responses in women.
Sleep deprivation: The bottom line
It is never too late to make positive changes in lifestyle and sleep habits to avoid this epidemic!