Continuing on from the last blog about getting enough sleep and the tips and tricks to help achieve deep sleep quicker. Today I would like to to cover the negative affects of sleep deprivation, of course there is the usual culprit of being tired and irritable. These are signs of sleep deprivation are well known, but I would like to cover some other aspects of sleep deprivation that some of you may not be aware of.

Sleep deprivation is actually very common in the US and Europe, approximately around 70 million people suffer from a form of sleep deprivation and a further 45 million in Europe according to a study in 2017. There are short term and long term affects of sleep deprivation, however, these short term affects like grains of sand slowly add up and can be quite the hurdle to overcome, these include increase stress susceptibility, loss of cognitive ability, somatic pain (a form of pain you feel in your skin, muscles, joints, and bones), and emotional distress. There is also a case of increased likely hood of depression with getting a lack of sleep.

The long term affects of sleep deprivation can be detrimental and even life threatening – increase in weight, cardiovascular diseases as well as hypertension are often correlated with lack of sleep. Lack of sleep can be something that might be the underlying cause to other issues with individual health and well being.

There are many lifestyle choices that may be affecting ones Cercadien cycle drinking large amounts of alcohol before sleeping may lead to dehydration which will lead to a less deep sleep, this is also the same with caffeine intake as well. Depending on the source it may take up to 7 to 10 hours for caffeine to completely leave the system, it also may take a week or two to completely be off the the affects of caffeine.

Of course there are many other factors that may lead to sleep deprivation but another one is external factors, room temperature, noise levels and light sources may also contribute to sleep deprivation.

Blue light especially can effect the level of melatonin – the hormone that helps regulate natural sleep wake cycle in the body, the less healthy amounts of melatonin your body secretes the less sleep one will receive, thus it is important that one focuses on refraining from using smart devices before sleeping.