Sleep: What Happens If What You Get Is Insufficient?

Sleep is one of the few strictly indispensible functions of all humans. Sleep is as important as food and water to human survival. It’s actually more important than eating, since humans are able to go much longer without eating than they can without sleeping. Not getting enough sleep has been revealed to create a shorter life span. A lack of sleep also causes a less effective immune system, a lower body temperature, memory impairment and moodiness. When excessive sleep deprivation occurs, people can experience severe illness and death.

Adults generally require sleep for eight hours a night. Children who are growing need more sleep than adults. During sleep, children receive growth hormones. Getting less sleep means less hormone and not reaching full height. Kids who don’t sleep enough will also perform more poorly in school.

Illnesses are often the result from the depressed immune system. Heart disease, a particularly serious illness, is a consequence of sleeping too little. Constantly sleeping too little causes high blood pressure. High blood pressure leads to a variety of other heart problems. Lacking sleep will also elevate the level of stress hormones. More fat will be stored as a result of these hormones. This will result in a weight gain, especially around the middle. There is also some evidence that getting enough sleep can help lower the risk of cancer.

Several of our behaviors are greatly affected by not enough sleep. Getting more sleep boosts test scores. Sleep also positively affects the short term memory. Remembering a specific task is easier when a person sleeps after learning it. To be able to concentrate, sleep is required. Concentration is affected by sleep at every level, but particularly when it comes to academics. Getting the correct amount sleep affects math abilities as well as communication skills.

Without the appropriate amount of sleep, people place themselves in danger during their everyday tasks. Being drunk and driving is as dangerous as staying awake too long and driving. Machinery that is used while a person is sleepy can put that person in severe danger. Without the right quantity of sleep, reaction times become slower. An excessive lack of sleep can create a situation where the body falls asleep inappropriately. Microbursts of involuntary sleep for a few seconds are the result. Those seconds are enough time for injuries to occur. In the U.S. each year, there are 71,000 injuries due to lack of sleep. Fatigue regularly causes 1,500 deaths in highway accidents.

Every function of the body is dependent on sleep. Without it, both the body and the mind suffer. Hormones that sleep helps to regulate allow us our alertness during the day. Missing even one hour of sleep can result in a loss of productiveness when it’s needed the most.