10 Things that Happen to your Body When You Don’t Sleep Enough

Sleep is vital for one’s health and wellness. It plays a crucial role in a variety of bodily functions to ensure the sustenance of one’s physical and biological well-being. So, what happens to the body when the requirement to sleep is not met? You easily get sick When you’re always sleep deprived, your immune system weakens. As a result, it makes you more likely to suffer from medical maladies since your immune system is compromised and is not completely strong to fight infections and other foreign invaders.

Your heart’s on the line

Short sleep durations – less than five hours per night – have been demonstrated to have a negative effect on one’s heart. Excessive sleep, which is more than nine hours, can also do the same. The risk of coronary heart disease or stroke also increases with sleep deprivation.

The risk of cancer increases

Lack of sleep is linked to greater rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer. To avoid this, do your best to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night.

Your mind becomes blurry

Even a night of zero sleep can lead to certain major cognitive problems. In a study, it was shown that mental functions, such as memory, decision-making, reasoning, and problem-solving, in addition to alertness and response time, exacerbated after one night of skipping sleep.

Your memory suffers

Aside from making you more forgetful, sleep deprivation also negatively affects your recall and learning capacities. In order to secure the things we learn in our brain, we need sufficient sleep to make this process smoother. Simply put, enough sleep is essential in order to effectively learn something new as it is committed to your memory.

Your sex drive lowers

Lack of sleep can negatively impact your sex life as well. It has been shown in multiple studies that sleep deprivation lowers men’s testosterone levels. In fact, sleeping for only five hours or less can already decrease your sex hormone by 10-15 percent. Worse, your general mood and vigor are also compromised as you continuously spend nights without adequate slumber.

You put on weight

This is bad news for dieters who exert too much effort on counting their calories and resisting their favorite food only to gain weight because they lack sleep. Studies have shown that people who spend less than five hours per night are more likely to become overweight or obese, while those who spend 7-8 hours on shut-eye have healthier weights.

Your chance of getting diabetes heightens

The fewer hours you spend on sleep, the more likely you will develop insulin issues that lead to diabetes. Excessive sleep can also cause the same problem.

You’re accident prone

For apparent reasons, lack of sleep not only gets you into health troubles, it also compromises your safety when you’re on the road. Based on the information shared by the National Sleep Foundation, you’re three times more likely to get into a vehicular accident if you only get six or fewer hours of sleep per night. This is partly because your cognitive functions are weakened by lack of sleep that your mind isn’t as sharp and as alert as when you get enough shut-eye. If you know you’re not getting sufficient sleep, think again before heading out with yourself as the designated driver.

Your physical appearance suffers

Edward Norton’s character in Fight Club suffers from insomnia in the beginning, which makes him look horrible. After finally being able to sleep, his looks improved – his eyes brightened, his skin glowed, and more. In real life, it’s basically the same. When you lack sleep, it shows. Your skin color is uneven and you have more lines and wrinkles.