7 Strange Ways Lack Of Sleep Is Destroying Your Body Slowly

 

The number of people who are willing to risk their health to keep themselves awake for a few extra hours at night is on the rise.

While there is nothing wrong with doing this occasionally, making this a habit will have long-term effects on your body. Most of these damages take weeks if not months to recover from.

The major downside of sleep-deprivation is that it's hard to notice its effects immediately but when you do, it's usually too late.

1.Immune System Malfunctions

Your body basically repairs itself by producing antibodies and cytokines while you sleep. This is your body's natural barrier to protect you against infections.

 

The more you deprive yourself of sleep, the more likely you are to get affected by infectious bacteria and viruses.

 

Apart from protection, cytokines also play a major role in managing your sleep cycle. You are technically hacking your body to sleep less making it so hard going back to normal. Using Mattress Protectors and Pillows that repel microbial growth should protect you from infections and allergies.

 

2.Poor Digestion

No matter how much you punish yourself at the gym, you are still going to get fat and obese if you fail to get proper sleep.

 

The hormone Leptin tells your body that it had enough food while Ghrelin induces more and more hunger. If you don't sleep enough, Ghrelin levels in your system increase rapidly keeping you in a constant state of hunger.

 

3.Respiratory Infections

Sleep-deprivation not just causes new problems but also makes the old ones much more severe. If you have any form of a Chronic Lung Illness, not getting enough sleep could make things worse.

It can also cause Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), that makes you take irregular breaths, ultimately reducing the quality of sleep you're getting.

4.Cardiovascular Abnormalities

It is no surprise or coincidence that a lot of people die of heart attacks while sleeping. Lack of sleep directly affects the health of your heart and blood vessels that control your body's blood pressure and sugar levels.

 

By not getting enough sleep, you are stripping out the ability of your body to heal its own damaged blood vessels. This is an indication that you are open to an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

 

5.Nervous Disorders

Having prolonged insomnia alters the way your brain receives and processes information. While sleeping, your brain starts retaining the information you've collected all day.

 

This is exactly why you will have a hard time recollecting something when you haven't had enough sleep.

 

You are jeopardizing your mental and emotional health forcing you to make wrong decisions. Paranoia and hallucinations are some of the long term effects which you will develop.

6.Irregular Hormone Cycles

The hormones in your body start dropping to alarming levels when you deprive yourself of sleep. You will see a rapid decrease in Testosterone levels which in turn reduces your sex drive.

 

Sleep-deprivation has a direct effect on your pituitary glands. As an adolescent, this reduces the production of growth hormones causing a whole spectrum of health problems.

7.Faster Aging and Depression

Being an insomniac makes you five times more likely to catch depression. As a matter of fact, not being able to sleep is one of the first signs you will have of depression.

 

But if you keep on doing this, the cortisol (Stress Hormone) levels in your bloodstream is going to shoot up.

 

This is going to break down the collagen in your skin causing it to shrink and look unhealthy. If you don't go back to a good sleep schedule, these effects can become irreversible.

 

Replacing your old pillows with new fluffier ones and using protective soft zipper covers will induce good sleep for you to stay young and healthy.

Conclusion

We take sleep for granted as we don't see its side-effects immediately but what's waiting in line for us is even more dangerous. Staying up all night is only going to keep you exhausted and lazy throughout the day.

 

No matter how impossible it may seem, getting back to a decent 7 to 8-hour sleep cycle is not that difficult.

 

Having enough sleep is one of the easiest things you can do to let your body heal itself and start your day with a bang!