![]() For those with underlying medical conditions, sleep disruption may diminish the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents and may worsen the severity of common gastrointestinal disorders. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. Long-term consequences of sleep disruption in otherwise healthy individuals include hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer. Behavioral problems and cognitive functioning are associated with sleep disruption in children. For adolescents, psychosocial health, school performance, and risk-taking behaviors are impacted by sleep disruption. In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits. Sleep disruption is associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms, and proinflammatory responses. A literature search was conducted to provide a nonsystematic review of these health consequences (this review was designed to be nonsystematic to better focus on the topics of interest due to the myriad parameters affected by sleep). Sleep disruptions have substantial adverse short- and long-term health consequences. Numerous factors contribute to sleep disruption, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to sleep disorders and other medical conditions. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectively referred to as sleep disruptions. Want to keep your brain healthy for a long time? Stick to a nightly maintenance schedule.Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. The waste products flushed out have been linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia. The researchers found that during sleep, the usual waste removal process – a process that involves cerebrospinal fluid flowing through the spaces between neurons and flushing waste along the way – happens ten times faster during sleep. After only three days of this reduced sleep regimen, each mouse lost 25% of brain cells in part of the brain stem.įinally, according to a study published in Science, sleep helps your brain detox. In the study conducted on mice (whose brain is known to be very similar to ours), mice were put on a schedule of 4-5 hours of sleep per day for several days (a schedule often used by human shift-workers). Not too worried about accumulated DNA damage? Well, according to science, sleep deprivation might actually kill your precious brain cells. The authors of a study published in Nature Communications found that there are essential DNA repair processes that take place in the brain while we sleep, reversing the DNA damage that accumulates while we’re awake. This has been confirmed in several studies over the last years.ĭuring sleep, your brain cells go through a repair process. In addition to all this, sleep greatly affects your brain on the cellular level. Finally, there are studies confirming that REM sleep boosts our creativity. Sleep affects your decision-making skills and improves your ability to self-control (something that both your relationship and your finances will one day thank you for!). Sleep affects your ability to acquire, store and retrieve memories. Sleep affects your ability to focus and improves reaction times (read: you should never drive while sleep deprived!). ![]() The effect of the lack of sleep on cognitive performanceĪs Dr Michael Breus, The Sleep Doctor, puts it, “It’s difficult to identify a cognitive skill that isn’t affected by sleep, and compromised by sleep deprivation.”. Not just that, lack of sleep affects the brain both on the level of cognitive performance and on the cellular level. Remember how poorly you did on that math test in grade 11 after playing video games all night? That’s not because you hadn’t studied enough, but because sleep deprivation has both short term and long term effects on the brain’s functions. However, sleep is as essential to our brains as it is to our bodies. It also increases the risk of anxiety and depression, and other mental health problems. ![]() Chronic sleep deprivation greatly increases the risk of many long term health conditions such as blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. Hopefully, everyone understands that sleep is essential for our bodies.
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