Is there anything better than a good night’s sleep? You wake up in a good mood and when you sit up and get out of bed, it’s as though your body thanks you for that rest. Contrast to the mornings when you wake up after a minimal amount of sleep. You don’t feel like yourself and you usually see dark circles under your eyes. You feel sluggish and would give anything for a few more hours of sleep.
Growing evidence indicates that sleep is necessary for maintaining long-term health. The body can typically handle a few nights with minimal sleep, but it is not sustainable over time. There will be a price you pay if you continually get insufficient sleep, according to health experts. In this article, we’ll detail some of the health problems linked to sleep deprivation.
Type 2 Diabetes
People who experience minimal sleep or poor quality sleep tend to have poorer blood sugar control, especially in people with diabetes. Additionally, sleep deprivation can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to some studies. In a group of middle-aged Caucasians, researchers observed a strong connection between poor sleep quality and metabolic syndrome, fasting blood duster levels, insulin levels, and insulin resistance, a precursor for type 2 diabetes.
Kidney Issues
Unfortunately, the link between insufficient sleep and kidney health has not been as firmly established as the link between poor sleep and other health conditions. Researchers note that people with chronic kidney disease tend to have sleep disorders, including restless leg syndrome and insomnia related to their condition. Some evidence shows that poor sleep quality may increase the risk of developing chronic kidney disease. Researchers believe that the link could be related to disruptions to the circadian rhythm.
Depression And Anxiety
According to research, people who have chronic insomnia have a higher rate of depression and anxiety. An estimated 40% of people with insomnia have clinical depression. The relationship between your mood and sleep is complex and bidirectional. That means that depression or anxiety can negatively impact sleep and lack of sleep can negatively affect your mood. Sleep experts consider insomnia to be an independent risk factor for developing mental health disorders, such as depression. You may need to address your sleep problems and anxiety or depression separately in order to improve your overall health.
A Less Healthy Gut
The gut microbiome is a complex system of trillions of microorganisms found in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Experts believe that the more diverse the microbiome, the better a person’s overall health is. Some studies suggest that altered sleep patterns, such as those consistent with night shift workers, may impact gut health. One study used Mendelian randomization, a method that looks at genetic variation to study the effects of different health variables. This study found that sleep issues may alter the abundance of bacteria in the gut.
Hypertension, Stroke, And Heart Disease
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the smallest changes in sleep have been linked to heart issues. After the clocks change in March, there are 24% more heart attacks for the first three to four days. When the clocks “fall back” in November, the AHA estimates a 21% reduction in heart attacks because people gain an hour of sleep. Sleeping for five hours or less per night on a regular basis has been associated with a two to three times greater risk of coronary artery buildup. That decreases the flow of blood to your heart, so sleep deprivation may increase the risk of coronary artery disease.
Reduced Immune Function
Sleep experts suggest that insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality can harm immune function. Evidence shows that poor sleep increases your susceptibility to various infections and illnesses. Studies show that people who sleep less than seven hours per night are three times more likely to develop the common cold compared with people who get eight hours or more of sleep per night.
Additional research states that insufficient sleep can make it more difficult for the body to produce disease-fighting antibodies, specifically after receiving flu, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B vaccines. Participants who only slept four hours per night in the days before and following vaccination developed lower levels of antibodies compared to those who had great sleep.
Weight Gain
Unfortunately, there is a strong connection between sleep issues and being overweight or having obesity. Failure to get enough sleep every night can cause a hormonal imbalance, and these are the hormones that regulate appetite. Ghrelin makes you feel hungry and leptin helps you feel full. Leptin levels tend to rise during sleep, so the theory is that insufficient sleep causes a decrease in those levels. That makes you feel hungrier, which leads to unnecessary eating. Additionally, sleep disturbances of any kind can increase the production of ghrelin, which increases appetite. Studies suggest that insufficient sleep can make people burn 100 more calories per day. While that sounds wonderful, the extra wake time increases how much people eat or drink by more than 250 calories per day. Over time, that can cause people to gain weight.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
