What Sleep Deprivation Is Doing To You
Are you getting enough sleep on a regular basis?
We talk about nicotine addiction, alcohol addiction, and overeating, but how often do we consciously pay attention to the quality and quantity of our sleep?
Now I know 8 hours of sleep is what you’ve heard most often from a variety of sources, and for most people, that’s the sweet spot. But it’s not a rigid number — it represents the typical number of hours an average person needs in order to remain physically and cognitively healthy. Your sweet spot might be slightly higher, or lower.
But are you getting sound sleep even for the number of hours that suits you?
Being Drunk
Remember the last time you got wasted, how did you feel? You probably had trouble with coordination, grammatical reasoning, and memory, amongst many other things.
As it turns out, sleep deprivation can cause symptoms similar to those of alcohol intoxication, making it more difficult for you to make wise and calculated decisions. What’s more surprising is how quickly you can see these efforts of “pseudo-drunkenness”.
A study by Williamson and Feyer (2000) found that after a mere 17 hours of sleep deprivation, your cognitive impairment would be equivalent to the legal blood alcohol limit.
While drinking and driving is a definite criminal offense, the laws regarding drowsy driving aren’t as well defined. In both cases, however, it’s best to forget the steering wheel until you’ve recovered.
Gradually Making You Weaker
Chronic sleep loss can boost the creation of stress chemicals like cortisol. Cortisol levels that are too high can weaken the immune system and make it difficult for the body to battle infections.
Furthermore, a lack of sleep can alter the body’s normal circadian cycles, leading to immune system imbalances. A disturbance in the sleep-wake pattern, for example, can result in a drop in the number of natural killer cells, which are immune cells that help the body battle viruses and tumors.
The process is slow, so you won’t experience any drastic effects in the beginning. But chronic deprivation will always show its effects on your body.
Altering Academic and Work Performance
Sleep deprivation can make it difficult to acquire and remember new knowledge. The brain consolidates memories during sleep, making them simpler to remember afterward.
This consolidation process can be interrupted by a lack of sleep, resulting in problems with learning and memory retention. Sleep deprivation can also impede focus and attention. It may be more difficult to concentrate and stay involved during classes, studies, or work, and you may be easily sidetracked by exterior stimuli such as sounds or motions.
And if this isn’t enough to get you thinking, take a look at the following results:
A study on the impact of sleep quality on the academic performance of medical students showed that the Grade Point Averages (GPA) of poorer sleepers were significantly lower than those of good sleepers.
Getting good sleep every night, I believe, is no less than a gift, considering the number of stimuli around us that could potentially act as sources of stress.
And so I ask you once again: are you getting enough sleep?
Thanks for reading
Read some more of my work:
Neh Joshi
