Understanding the Physical & Mental Side-Effects of Not Getting Enough Sleep

Did you know that an estimated 33 million people worldwide suffer from insomnia? What’s more, it’s also estimated that around 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea. And the majority of these cases are considered to be severe. 

With these facts in mind, it’s important to remember that sleep is a huge determining factor in overall physical and mental health. And without adequate sleep, you could suffer extreme shifts in your overall quality of life.

Over the years, numerous studies have been performed on the sleeping habits of people of all ages. And adults seem to have the worst sleep habits of all. But understanding the physical and mental effects that arise from not getting enough sleep is another matter entirely.

If you haven’t been sleeping properly, or if you wish to know more about the dangers of inadequate sleep, the following will address some of these concerns.

Understanding Sleep Disorders 

As mentioned, sleep disorders plague a large number of people around the globe and a rather large part of the American population. These can cause debilitating mental health and subpar lifestyle conditions. Among all of these disorders, sleep apnea is the most severe, and one of the more life-threatening sleep disorders around. 

Sleep apnea occurs when the throat muscles don’t properly allow the airways to function during sleep which often results in persistent, loud snoring along with the abrupt starting and stopping of breathing. In the most severe cases, sleep apnea can be fatal. 

To combat sleep apnea, many doctors prescribe the use of CPAP machines in order to help keep positive airway pressure. The only problem is that some CPAP machines have been found to be defective, and this can result in even greater health complications such as cancer and respiratory illnesses.

If you suffer from sleep apnea and have developed health problems due to the use of CPAP devices, you should navigate to rosenfeldinjurylawyers.com/cpap-lawsuit.html and begin the process of filing a claim. 

Mental Side-Effects

Anyone who has ever stayed in bed staring at the ceiling all night unable to fall asleep knows just how irritable they can be the day after. And though this is a common occurrence for many people, for those who consistently cannot get adequate sleep, mental health can decline sharply.

Believe it or not, prolonged sleep deprivation can cause serious psychiatric conditions to develop. A few of these are as follows: 

• Stress 
• Social anxiety 
• Bipolar disorder 
• ADHD
• Clinical depression 
• Irregular mood

Among the most common side-effects associated with inadequate sleep is the regulation of mood. And as the brain requires proper sleep to function, if the brain is being overworked as happens with a lack of sleep, cognitive functions that regulate the consolidation of emotional experience can begin to be affected. 

When sleep deprivation persists, confusion and negative thoughts also begin to become more frequent. And in prolonged situations, basic motor functions and the ability to complete simple tasks can also be drastically affected as well. This is why sleep deprivation is often a tactic used on prisoners of war, as it depletes them of the mental energy needed to stay vigilant or coherent. 

Physical Side-Effects

Along with debilitating mental conditions, lack of sleep can also cause complicated physical symptoms as well. And many of these are related to heart health. In fact, going too long without proper sleep can actually shut the body down, and can be fatal in extreme cases. 

A few physical side-effects of inadequate sleep are as follows: 

• Irregular heartbeat
• Heart attack
• Heart failure 
• Diabetes 
• Stroke 
• High blood pressure 
• Lack of sex drive 

It should be noted that though the brain controls many of the critical functions that the body depends on, so does the heart. And when your body doesn’t get sufficient rest, your heart (and your brain) both begin to work much harder to keep your body functioning.

As the body “speeds up” its processes for maintaining its function, your mental acuity begins to slow down. In fact, it’s not uncommon for sufferers of sleep disorders to report distorted senses of time, and describe the feeling of watching life happen in slow motion, or also related to living in a semi-permanent “out of body” experience. 

Taking care of your sleep schedule is extremely important to living a full and healthy life, both mentally and physically. And if you’ve experienced any of the symptoms listed here, you should consult your doctor or seek help immediately.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Effects Of Loss Sleep On The Body

You wake up early trying to skip traffic, working an average of 9 hours a day. You get home tired, but you can’t afford to rest because there’s chores to do at home. Okay, you’re finished with everything you absolutely needed to do. You’re beat, but you still want to catch your favorite show, check what’s going on online or maybe hit the town and meet some friends. By the time you’re finally in bed and asleep, you’re looking at about 5 hours’ worth of sleep and then you’re back to the same daily routine. It’s fine, though, you’ll catch up on all of those missing hours of sleep over the weekend, no?
 

No, it’s not fine, because sleep doesn’t work like that. The hours of sleep you lose over the week cannot be compensated for by sleeping at a later date. For the past four decades, 40 % of Americans have been getting less sleep on a daily basis than the recommended 7-9 hours for an adult of up to 64 years. 

 

A new study looked at the consequence of this sparse sleep cycle and the effectiveness of “catching up” on sleep over the weekend. For the purpose of the test, a group of young adults were assigned to three groups: a control group that got 9 hours of sleep, a group that got 5 hours of sleep all week long, and a third group that got 5 hours of sleep with sleep compensation over the weekend.

In both sleep-deprived groups, the researchers found an increased tendency to snack, especially on empty-carb foods which give a short-term energy surge, both groups subsequently demonstrated weight-gain and a decreased insulin sensitivity, which may trigger diabetes if left untreated. The group that slept over the weekend saw minor improvements during the weekend (and only on those days), but were still far behind those who slept the recommended amount of hours on a daily basis.

So why do we do this to ourselves?

In his autobiography (published posthumously in 1791), Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wrote these words about sleep: “there will be sleeping enough in the grave.”
Franklin was a firm believer in industriousness, and thought that any hour spent not being busy with something useful was an hour gone to waste. His work ethic has become a legend, a staple of American exceptionalism, but his disdain for a good night’s sleep has gone largely uncriticized.

When Robert Owen, Welsh labor rights activist said: “eight hours work, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest” that was certainly an improvement over the working schedule of industry workers in the early 19th century, who regularly worked 12-hour shifts with no vacations.

But even if we were to assume that 40 hours of work on a weekly basis is the right amount of work in terms of balancing productivity, rest and recreation (consider the fact that many of our supposedly recreational hours are spent on what amounts to unpaid work doing chores), according to a 2014 poll, the average American works 47 hours a week, with as many as 39% reporting working 50-60 hours per week! This is often not a matter of choice, as many employers seem to expect workers to punch in more hours than required.

On top of a tendency to overwork comes a more modern malady: fear of missing out (or FOMO), a social anxiety characterized by a constant desire to be connected and in the know about what others are doing, as well as a concern that you’re missing out on an opportunity (not necessarily financial, as an opportunity for a social interaction also qualifies).

It was first identified by a marketing strategist in the mid-90’s, and it has only gotten more widespread as social media has become more commonplace and readily accessible via mobile phones. In the past few years, it has only gotten worse, as people feel a constant social itch that can only be alleviated by grabbing their smartphone and browsing through Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

The end-result is that a huge chunk of Americans work well over 8 hours a day while trying to extend recreational time as much as possible at the expense of valuable sleeping hours, leading to a plethora of health issues, a cycle which will not be broken unless we rethink our weekly schedule in a major way.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

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Social anxiety in children connected to complications during childbirth reveals study

A recent study has found a link between children who suffer from social anxiety and babies who had a complicated birth.

The researchers found that the babies who had complicated birth had a higher risk of developing social anxiety later on in life.

For the study, 149 children aged 9 to 12 years were screened for behavioural inhibition, a tendency to exhibit a fearful disposition and withdrawal in unfamiliar contexts and situations and were assessed for social anxiety symptoms using parent and child reports.
 
Investigators found that pre-natal complications were associated with higher levels of behavioural inhibition and social anxiety symptoms.

Analyses also suggested that behavioural inhibition acted as a pathway between birth complications and social anxiety symptoms.

This study has set the stage for future longitudinal work. They are going to further examine if childhood temperament is a developmental path by which birth complications lead to social anxiety symptoms.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

                   FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com