HEALTH CONCERNS FOR SLEEP-DEPRIVED YOU!!!
SLEEP- it is one perfunctory activity that we do at least two thirds of our lives . For most of us, it is a much welcome interruption from our daily grind. It gives us the perfect reason to pause at the end of the day to relax, recharge and rejuvenate the different systems in our body. But there are people who consider sleep or rest as an unwanted disruption of our everyday routine and they try to pack in all activities in a 24-hour day. They do this automatically (missing sleep hours ,that is) that it doesn’t occur to them that there are a bunch of detrimental and damaging effects to our health in general:
- Predisposition to HEART AND CIRCULATORY PROBLEMS- Being sleep deprived can increase your risk to cardiac and circulatory diseases. Studies show that strokes or cerebro vascular attacks are most likely to happen in the wee hours of the morning. Strive hard to get at least 7-8 hours of rest per day.
- RELEASE OF STRESS HORMONES- If you sleep in irregular patterns and uncertain hours, stress hormones like cortisol and nor epinephrine are released by the body. This will contribute to the rapid increase of blood pressure, which can cause undue anxiety and if left unchecked and unmedicated, can wreck havoc to your over-all well-being.
- LETHARGIC AND LESS ENERGIZED- The lack of quality sleep can leave you with less energy and less alertness to help you through the various activities of your day. People who are able to meet the recommended hours of rest are more active and attentive to perform the tasks laid out in their daily calendar.
- Sleep deprivation can most likely cause CANCER- failing to sleep soundly at night means you have decreased levels of melatonin- a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body and helps in regulating the sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin is regarded to prevent tumors from increasing in size and it is believed to avert cancer-causing elements.
- Loss of valued sleep hours can cause MEMORY LOSS too- There is an unexplainable phenomenon that happens during rest time and it is called memory consolidation. When we retire for the night, our body may be seemingly relaxed but the brain cells are busy uniting and interconnecting the various activities and events that happened during the day. Several hours after, we wake up feeling refreshed with a solid memory bank intact.
- WEIGHT GAIN can result from sleep deprivation- most people think falsely and fallaciously that by skipping sleep, they can lose some unwanted pounds along the way. That is just baloney! If you fail to get a good 7-8 hour sleep through the night, you wake up not only less alert and less active but with an empty, grumbling stomach. It will make you compensate the loss by taking in that extra bagel spread generously with cholesterol-rich butter for breakfast. Say goodbye to diet!
- People who don’t get a healthful sleep are more likely to be DEPRESSED- One of the hormones that regulate our moods is serotonin. Sleep loss can cause a remarkable decrease in the production of serotonin so it is safe to say that if one strives to have high quality sleep; one is more able to handle life’s little crises that inevitably come our way.
Now, that we have given you a list of injurious and ill effects to your health if you purposely lose sleep, you might take a second thought of delaying hitting the sack. With a comfortable and quiet environment and after downing a cold (or warm) glass of milk and after taking a leisurely bath and looking up to heaven and thanking the ONE up above for all the blessings in your life- it won’t take a minute for you to be on the dreamy boat to slumber land!
Good Night! Sleep Tight!
