Major Health Risks of Sleep Deprivation

Sleep Deprivation is a condition where an individual does not meet the required hours of sleep most of the time. It is a common problem among teenagers and adults. Although lack of sleep does not lead to a serious health problem right away, doing it repetitively can lead to physical and health problems gradually. Sleeping is one of the major needs that our body makes to regenerate good health for both mental and physical aspect.

Sleep Deprivation is a common health problem in the United States or all over the world. There is an appropriate sleep duration for different age group. According to National Sleep Foundation, School-Age Children should be having 9-11 hours of sleep, Teenagers 8-10 hours, and Adults for 7-9 hours. People who sleep less than their recommended sleep duration are considered sleep deprived. In addition, there is a survey conducted by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the year 2005-2009 that according to it there an estimated of 50-70 million Americans that are Sleep Deprived. Having sleep deprivation in a long run can result in increased cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, hypertension, and hormonal imbalances.

The effects of sleep deprivation can increase a lot of health risk in the cardiovascular system. Heart rate and blood pressure change during sleep. With lack of sleep, this can put a lot of damage in the heart that makes a heart works haste that can cause tachycardia and blood pressure. Researcher Daniela Grimaldi, M.D., Ph.D. noted, “Almost all physiological and behavioral processes, in particular, the sleep-wake cycle, follow a circadian rhythm that is regulated by an internal clock located in the brain.” This means that if we do not follow our internal body clock sleep, it can cause dysfunction and serious problem in our cardiovascular system and other parts of the body as well. Lack of sleep can put a lot of stress in the body which can raise the blood pressure and can cause a contraction in the blood vessels. The elevation of blood pressure and contraction of the blood vessel can decrease the function of the vagus nerve that has a curative effect on the performance of the heart during resting or sleep state.

Only a night of lack of sleep can result in boosted blood pressure. In one large study conducted by Institute of Medicine Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research—that lack of sleep and disordered sleep are also associated with heart attacks and possible stroke. Getting 5 or fewer hours of sleep per night was associated with a 45 percent increase of heart attack (the researcher controlled for age, weight, smoking, and snoring)— (Colten HR and Altevog BM 2006)

During sleep, the primary hormone that works is the melatonin. It is a hormone that is released by the pineal gland that alerts an individual that the body needs to sleep at night this hormone can also be suppressed by light. When an individual is sleeping the bodies blood pressure drops. This reduces the workload of the heart, but when an individual has an inadequate sleep there are several hormones that can interrupt the sleep cycle. The hormones that work or can interrupt the sleep are Adrenaline, Cortisol, and Thyroid hormones. Adrenaline is a powerful hormone that can precisely affect the blood pressure. When the adrenaline level remained high during the night this causes a big spike in the blood pressure which can cause hypertension. Cortisol is known as “stress hormone” are most in the morning. Upon waking up, the cortisol level hikes up to prepare the body to deal with the stress that it is about to face. The cortisol hormone levels are very high in the morning and gradually deteriorate throughout the day to adjust the body for the resting state or sleep. But when the body is sleep deprived, the cortisol level is disrupted that it increases in the night instead of the morning and this makes the cycle messed up. This signals the body to do unnecessary stress response that causes a negative effect in the body.

Moreover, Sleep Deprivation can affect the Thyroid hormone as well inadequate sleep can increase the production of the thyroid of a person that are not getting enough rest. A person with increased thyroid hormone causes raised blood pressure which can lead to hypertension or make the heart do unnecessary workload which can lead to a heart attack as well.

There are many ways to help the body to overcome sleep deprivation, such as going to bed at night and waking up every morning same time. This helps the body to build a sleep-wake pattern. When going to rest, avoid intense activity and essentially lessen the use of mobile devices an hour before going to sleep because the bright light that comes from the devices may signal the brain that the body needs to wake up. Avoid drinking caffeine before going to bed because the caffeine is a catalyst that can disrupt the sleep. We know that banana has an excellent source of magnesium and potassium which can help the muscle to relax. Furthermore, banana also contains a tryptophan that converts to serotonin and melatonin that has a huge benefaction to sleep. Lastly, after a long day of nerve-wracking work that the body and mind went through having a nice warm bath or shower before going to bed is a nice reward for the body because it can help the body to be calm and feel relaxed.

In conclusion, Sleep Deprivation is bad to our body it can cause a lot of interference in our daily work such as having bad mood swings, the brain is not functioning properly, fatigue, irritability, and so much more. This is only short outcomes in an occasional sleep deprivation, but in a long run on having a habitual lack of sleep it can affect our cardiovascular system which causes to hypertension, heart attack, and hormonal imbalances that if left untreated may lead to death. Make sure to have enough sleep daily for a productive day and helps regenerate our body to protect our health and well-being.