How you wish to get enough sleep. Sleep is your miracle cure but you are not getting enough because of work and other things. You are not alone. Actually most Singaporeans do not get enough sleep despite the continuous reminder of health experts about getting at least eight hours of sleep at night. As a result, you go around eternally tired.
You already know that sleep is something needed to make you feel alert plus it helps prevent having eye bags. It is more than that. Sleep is vital in overall health and wellness and it is time that you get worried of the harmful effects of sleep deprivation. Experts from The Sleep Council said that most of us get by on just 5 to 6 hours of sleep and that is not enough to perform our best.
In fact, a separate study conducted by Harvard Medical School revealed that those who do not get enough are 15% more likely to die early than those who have good sleeping habits. It is time to be aware. Start with short term and long term effects of sleeplessness:
Short term sleeplessness
There are always two aspects in your health that can take a toll when it comes to sleeplessness namely physical and mental. Lack of sleep can affect your physical health like feeling fatigued or weak, getting dizzy and lacking energy to execute even basic tasks. Aside from that, you might notice you get sugar cravings and you feel hungrier. It is also easy to contract sickness like infections, colds and flu. If you are particular about your eyes and skin, it will surely look dull.
Lack of sleep can affect your mental health like mood swings and short temper. Not only that, you will find it hard to concentrate. You have to understand that this happens because the brain is left depleted and exhausted that it fails to even execute basic tasks efficiently.
Long term sleeplessness
You still have time to change your ways but if you still ignore it, sleep deprivation can be severe for your health. Lack of sleep can affect physical health because it will lead to weight gain – which is the root of other health conditions from obesity, diabetes to heart disease or worse, cancers. When you lose too much sleep, the body will overproduce cortisol (causing stress) and insulin (processes sugar). Both can store extra fat.
Lack of sleep can affect your mental health causing depression and anxiety. You will also feel paranoia and worse, you will have suicidal thoughts.