10 things that's gonna happen to you if sleeping well is your issue

mirage (52)in #psychology • 7 years ago (edited)

Hello steemians!!! Yet another weird post about 10 facts what lack of sleep causes.Let's dive in!

American Randy Gardner who was born August 7, 1949 is the holder of the scientifically documented record for the longest a human has intentionally gone without sleep not using stimulants of any kind. In 1964, Gardner, a high school student in San Diego, California, stayed awake for 264.4 hours (11 days 25 minutes). This period of sleeplessness broke the previous record of 260 hours held by disk jockey Tom Rounds of Honolulu.

Gardner's record attempt was attended by Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William C. Dement. Gardner's health was monitored by Lt. Cmdr. John J. Ross. A log was kept by two classmates from Point Loma High School, Bruce McAllister and Joe Marciano Jr. Accounts of Gardner's sleep-deprivation experience and medical response became widely known among the sleep research community.

While Randy ended up recovering from the experiment with no discernible long-term physical and mental defects, the rest of us might not be so lucky. We might not be attempting to cut out shut-eye altogether like Gardner did, but a lot of us are trying to sustain ourselves on less sleep than our bodies need, and over many years, the health effects can be very serious.

From weight gains, high blood pressure and hormone changes to sickness and an increased risk of premature death, we know that the effects of consistently getting less than the recommended 7 hours sleep a night for adults and 10 hours sleep for adolescents aren’t great, and as the TED video reports, in the US, 30 percent of adults, and 66 percent of teenagers are regularly sleep-deprived.

➊ The loss of efficiency in the work of the brain

There is a lot of research about this, and you should understand that the less you sleep, the worse your brain works. Sleepy brains lose energy in the prefrontal cortex when they try to overcome the consequences of lack of sleep. As a result, the brain does not work at full capacity.

➋ Loss of short-term memory

If you have a problem with remembering the numbers of a phone number or addresses or names of people, then you perform even more difficult tasks even worse. First of all, lack of sleep hits short-term memory, which was confirmed by Randy Gardner himself, who was asked to deduct 7 out of 100, to which he replied "65".

➌ Loss of long-term memory

As long as you sleep, your brain integrates and comprehends what happened to you throughout your life, and in particular, for the past day. Perhaps that is why we often dream about moments from the past or dreams related to recent events. So, the lack of sleep can severely deform this process, which helps us to structure memory. And if this happens systematically, then it will be harder for you to learn new skills.

➍ Loss of attention or concentration

If you can not concentrate on the subject, the story line of the film, the book, then most likely you have a problem with attention. The problem with attention is easily made from a normal person by an asshole who can not adequately support the conversation, listen to the interlocutor, and in general perform any work where attention is required. When you start to notice that you are gradually becoming a brake, it means that you are sleeping too little - your brain does not have enough time to recover after hours of activity. Sleep 7-8 hours, and everything will be fine.

➎ Lack of ability to plan

If you do not sleep for 36 hours, then your ability to plan and coordinate your actions will drop swiftly down. Tests show that the planning of tasks and goals, as well as the systematization of time are inextricably linked with a good and full sleep. If you neglect sleep, then the world begins to feel as if through a veil of fog - there is no clarity in the mind, which is necessary for projecting your actions for the future.

➏ Controlling habits

Since the lack of sleep negatively affects brain activity, the body comes to the idea that once the brain does not work, it means we must rely entirely on habits - to start the body in automatic mode. This is both good and bad news. Automatic mode helps us to continue the activity, let it be and do not call stormy. On the other hand, the habits can be bad, which is why during low sleep we tend to choose unhealthy food for satisfying hunger or alcohol for quenching thirst.

➐ Risk of making inadequate decisions

The one who played poker at night, perfectly understands how negatively affects the playing skills a sleepy feeling. The problem of lack of sleep has devastated the purses of many gamblers, because the fact is that the desire to take risks does not vanish anywhere, but there are fewer opportunities to find rational solutions. In this case, even the accumulated experience of the player does not affect the quality of the game in the event that the player does not get enough sleep before the session. If we transfer this idea to life as a whole, it becomes clear why we make the most absurd decisions on days when we hardly slept.

➑ Brain cells starting to die rapidly

Various studies indicate that lack of sleep damages the brain cells. For example, one study showed that 25% of certain mouse brain cells die as a result of prolonged sleep deprivation. Other studies have found a lower level of whiteness in the brain, which is not enough sleep. In any case, when we say that not sleeping is bad, we are talking not only about psychological problems, but also about physiological problems.

➒ Mania

By the way, about madness. If you do not sleep enough on a regular basis, then you are guaranteed to start experiencing mania. Symptoms will be psychosis, paranoia, an extremely high burst of energy with its rapid withdrawal, hallucinations, aggression and much more. Unfortunately, mental illnesses can also cause bad sleep, so if you feel something like that, then it's time to see a doctor.

➓ Car accidents

And now about the serious. You have every right not to take care of your health. If you do not want to sleep at night, and in the morning turn into a zombie that can not work productively, live and rest, then your will. But if you are the owner of the car, then the problem goes to the universal plane, because your driving skills are just awful when you do not get enough sleep. Driving in such moments can be worse than driving in a drunken state. If when you're drunk, you tend to realize that you're drunk, and you need to drive the car neatly, then when you want to sleep, you absolutely do not understand that you drive shitlessly.
The good news is that all these troubles can be overcome by good sleep. For example, Randy Gardner slept 14 hours after his marathon on the first day and 10 hours in the second, after which he fully recovered.

So why exactly do we need sleep, and what’s happening in our bodies that causes a lack of sleep to give some people a 4.5 times higher risk of stroke? Watch the video above to find out, and see if you can fit a sneaky 20-minute nap in at work today. Your body will appreciate that.