Sleep deprivation-dangerous effects on body and brain

A huge part of health issue arises from sleep deprivation. Your body needs sleep just as it needs air and function. With adequate sleep your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance. Without proper sleep your brain and body function start to decline and puts your physical health at risk. You start feeling irritable, extreme fatigues, yawning and excessive sleepiness. These are a few effects of what sleep deprivation can do to your body:

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Dangers of sleep deprivation

Memory issues: During sleep your brain forms new connections helping you process and remember new information. Your brain forms connections that helps you process and remember the new things that you have learnt. A lack of sleep affects both short and long-term memory.
 
Affects your immune system: Your body needs the immune system to ward off bacteria and viruses. Without proper sleep, your body becomes weak to fend off invaders. When you sleep your body produces protective, infection-fighting substances like cytokines. Cytokines help you sleep and give your immune system more energy to defend your body against illness. Long term sleep deprivation also causes chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
 
Digestive system: It is not just overeating or not exercising that causes obesity. Sleep deprivation is also another factor for becoming overweight and obesity. Sleep influences the levels of two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, which control feelings of hunger and fullness. When you have had enough your leptin warns the brain that you’ve had enough to eat. Hence, when you don’t get enough sleep, your brain reduces leptin and raises ghrelin, an appetite stimulant. The result of this change causes night time snacking resulting to unwanted calories.

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Cardiovascular system: People who don’t get enough sleep are likely to suffer from cardiovascular or any other heart related disease. Sleep affects the processes that keep your heart and blood vessels healthy, such as blood sugar and blood pressure. In addition, sleep is also one healing factor where it plays a vital role in your body’s ability to heal and repair the blood vessels and heart.

In addition, sleep deprivation can affect your concentration, creativity and problem-solving skills. You are also more prone to meeting with an accident when drowsy caused by the lack of sleep. Hence, when you stay awake because of the deadline or for the upcoming assignments you are only depriving your sleep from creativity skills which are to help you through your work.