Home Lifestyle 40 Troubling Ways Sleep Deprivation Harms People

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40 Troubling Ways Sleep Deprivation Harms People

Shannon June 6, 2019

A lack of sleep can lead to muscle atrophy. Credit: Shutterstock

15. Muscle Atrophy

After you lift weights at the gym, your muscles need to recover in order to grow bigger and stronger. If you get less sleep, your hormones will begin to get off-kilter. Your cortisol will increase, while testosterone will decrease. Just like healing from an injury, your body needs a lot of sleep to make your muscles grow. If you are attempting to be a body builder, get a six-pack, or just generally get more toned, make sure you are getting a good night’s sleep.

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Losing sleep can cause you to be clumsy. Credit: Shutterstock

14. Clumsiness

When you lose sleep, it lowers your reaction time, and it makes it much harder to think clearly. This can lead to becoming clumsy. You may walk into things, drop things, or stumble over your words. This behavior can be obnoxious to other people, but it may also lead to something more serious, like losing your job. We live in a world where people commonly have multiple side-hustles in order to survive. However, if you work yourself too hard and find yourself slipping up and making mistakes, you may want to reconsider.

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Lack of sleep can lead to depression and sadness. Credit: Shutterstock

13. Depression

It is very difficult to be happy when you are sleep deprived. People who are depressed often report feeling sleepy throughout the day. This can result in feeling detached and not able to enjoy life to the fullest. A vast majority of people who suffer from depression also have insomnia. Some believe that this is a vicious cycle where one issue feeds into the other. So, if you feel depressed, give yourself a day to rest and sleep, and try to get into a good sleep schedule. For some people, this will not be enough to completely cure the problem, but it will help tremendously.

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Losing sleep can increase your risk of diabetes. Credit: Shutterstock

12. Diabetes

Even if you are not overweight, medical researchers have found a link between sleep disorders and Type 2 Diabetes. Losing sleep increases your risk of insulin resistance, as well as throwing off your body’s metabolism. Obesity can also lead to other sleep disorders like snoring, sleep apnea, and more.

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If you need to study, make sure you get a good night’s sleep. Credit: Shutterstock

11. Losing Focus

Whether you are trying to study or work on a complicated issue in your career, sleep is essentially for focusing and thinking clearly. When you are sleep deprived, your brain will no longer function the way it should. In today’s world, issues like ADD are medicated almost immediately, without considering the sleeping habits of the child. If you have problems paying attention, try to give yourself a healthy sleep schedule, and stick to it.

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If you are injured, it will take longer to heal when you don’t sleep enough. Credit: Shutterstock

10. Delayed Healing

Your body heals from its wounds when it is sleeping. So, if you have a broken bone, a cut, or anything else that needs to heal, you need to sleep more in order to get back to normal. If you push yourself to lose sleep, you will only take longer to heal from an injury or illness.

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Losing sleep can make you slur your words. Credit: Shutterstock

9. Speaking Clearly

One of the consequences of sleep deprivation is that it inhibits your ability to speak clearly. One study showed that volunteers who stayed awake for 36 hours straight began to slur their words, and could barely speak- much like someone who is very drunk. Of course, it will never get this bad if you only slept 5 hours instead of 9. However, it still may contribute to you not being at your best. Maybe you’ll forget a few words here and there. So, next time you have a public speaking event, be sure to get a good night’s sleep.

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Pain and sleep are closely linked to one another. Credit: Shutterstock

8. Coping with Pain

People who suffer with chronic pain often wake up in the middle of the night, because their symptoms are too much to handle. However, many studies have shown that a lack of sleep contributes to a lowered pain tolerance. So, it is actually a vicious cycle. There may be other causes of pain during sleep, like a bad mattress.

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Snoring can wake you and your partner up. Credit: Shutterstock

7. Snoring

Oh, snoring…You’re awful. Snoring is caused by vibrations in the throat, and it is more common in people who are overweight or have breathing issues. If you have a partner who snores, you already know that it is almost impossible to fall asleep. And if you the one who is snoring, you may even wake yourself up in the middle of the night. According to SleepEducation.org, around 40% of men and 24% of women snore. There are several methods to combating snoring- from quitting alcohol, eating right, losing weight, and changing sleeping positions.

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People with sleep apnea lose oxygen in the middle of the night. Credit: Shutterstock

6. Sleep Apnea

Similar to snoring, sleep apnea is when someone suddenly stops breathing in the middle of the night. Cutting off oxygen to the body is extremely harmful, and it may even lead to death. Sleep Apnea is more common in people who are overweight or morbidly obese. According to SleepEducation.org, sleep apnea is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

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The less you sleep, the sooner you will die. Credit: Shutterstock

5. Increase Likelihood of Death

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you lose sleep, you’re cutting down your life expectancy, similar to smoking cigarettes. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can take years off of your life. It really should not be that surprising, considering how many other health issues it has a part in.

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Obviously, if you don’t sleep enough, you will be tired during the day. Credit: Shutterstock

4. Sleepiness During the Day

It should come as no surprise that if you don’t get enough sleep throughout the day, it will result in feeling sleepy throughout the work day. You might find yourself nodding off at your desk, or desperately wanting to take a nap in the early afternoon.

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When you lose sleep, it is so much harder to keep up a daily routine. Credit: Shutterstock

3. Daily Routines

When you think of healthy habits, what comes to mind? Maybe it involves a morning run, a cup of coffee, and a full breakfast before heading to work early. Having a daily routine is linked to increased levels of happiness and productivity. However, if you’re dragging yourself out of bed in the morning, you probably can’t imagine running a mile before work.

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You may gain weight if you are losing sleep. Credit: Shutterstock

2. Weight Gain

We already mentioned a few times on this list that losing sleep means that you will have less impulse control. This can lead you to eating unhealthy foods, and this will ultimately lead to you gaining weight. This can also hurt your metabolism, so your food will not digest properly. Overall, it is best to get a good night’s sleep when you are on a diet. Even better- get a good workout so that you feel tired enough to have a good night’s sleep.

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Losing sleep has been linked to having a stroke. Credit: Shutterstock

1. Stroke

According to the National Stroke Association, more than half of stroke victims have serious sleep problems. This will only make matters worse, since this can lead to the elderly patients falling in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, or have less time asleep where the body is healing. Since losing sleep is also linked to heart issues, it would make sense that sleep problems could have contributed to the stroke happening in first place, too.

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