Do you suffer from irregular sleep patterns? What happens if you don’t get enough sleep?
Suppose you wake up frequently during the night and face issues related to unrefreshing night sleep, indicating that you are not getting the required quality sleep. It accelerates to feeling tired. It can also affect physical health, emotional well-being, mental health, and learning difficulties in children. If you have a sleep problem, your immune system makes you more inclined towards infections, which may take double the time to fix and clear up. Deprivation of sleep also affects your breathing pattern and gas exchange.
How much sleep is suitable for your well-being?
Sleep is an essential physiological need for every person. Moreover, it is necessary to take balanced and quality sleep. The most common symptoms are headache, dizziness, nausea, etc. According to the research, adults need to sleep at least seven to eight hours per night. But the time depends and varies by age. Another study shows that consumption of caffeine results in loss of three to five hours of sleep.
What are the effects of an inappropriate amount of sleep on the physical body?
There are several effects on your body if you don’t get enough sleep:
- It can affect the hormones that contribute to feelings of hunger.
- The hormone also activates the release of insulin in the body. Whenever there are alterations in body weight, there is a high risk of diabetes.
- Lack of sleep affects the production of your growth hormones and testosterone.
Insufficient sleep also affects reasoning ability, cognitive functioning, and learning abilities, and you cannot form new memories.
Sleep Problems can be linked to your Hormones!
Are you constantly thinking and stressed about your sleep problems? The imbalance of Your Hormones is the root cause of your sleep problems.
Yes, you have read it right!
For example, Melatonin, a sleep hormone, has its primary function to promote healthy rest and regulate your body’s cardiac rhythm. If there is a specific imbalance in Melatonin levels, it is a significant cause of sleeplessness. In addition, cortisol is a critical hormone produced by the adrenal gland, and your sleep regulates the level of cortisol. You also know Cortisol as Stress Hormone. It holds other hormones in the body, and insufficient sleep leads to an imbalance in the release of cortisol.
The right balance of Estrogen and Progesterone guarantees a healthy reproductive system. If there is sleep deprivation, your cortisol level is high enough, which ultimately affects the level of estrogen and Progesterone.
Moreover, your thyroid activity slows down, affecting your entire body’s metabolism. Another example is Somatotrophin which plays a vital role in immunity and metabolism. Finally, when you cut sleep, there is an imbalance in your growth hormone.
What can be done to regulate your hormones and get rid of sleep problems?
To ensure proper regulation of hormones to get a decent night’s sleep, you should keep electronics, like your mobile phones, laptops, tablets, etc., away from your bed. Try and sleep for at least 7-8 hours. Next, consider tracking your sleeping patterns. Go for cooling pillows and comfortable, soft bedspreads. Moreover, you should also limit your sugar consumption to adjust the insulin levels in your body. Your natural sleep patterns are also hugely affected by part-time jobs and shifts. If you have got such jobs, you should find a patch in your 24 hours day where you could get a 6-hour uninterrupted sleep.