It happens to the best of us—you’ve got a big day at work tomorrow, or a deadline in the morning on a piece of work you haven’t started. Nothing for it but to cut some time off your precious eight hours of rest and recovery. However, what happens when you do this not as a once off, but consistently? What happens when you develop a habit of sleeping less than you should, or less than your body needs?
Although most US doctors recommend that we get at least 7 hours of sleep, studies show that about one in five Americans get less than five hours each night. It’s also important to note that the seven hour figure itself might be on the leaner side, especially as many of these studies are outdated and were only tested on men, and it’s been proven that women need more sleep than men. Still, sleeping little is ingrained in our culture; we praise people who genetically need less sleep, and encourage sleeping less for increased productivity. But as the needle shifts towards more positive work-life balance and a culture of self-care, let’s take a look at what interrupted sleep does to your body and mind.
What Is Sleep Deprivation?
Sleep deprivation refers to when you get less sleep than your body needs. This might be due to scheduling difficulties, commitments in your life, or interruptions to your usual sleep habits—like a newborn that cries in the night. Sleep deprivation can be one-off, or it can be chronic, but it’s different from illnesses where you want to sleep but cannot. These we refer to as either the blanket term of insomnia, or the condition specifically that keeps you awake, like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.
One major difference between sleep deprivation and insomnia is that people suffering from sleep deprivation may not fully understand the negative impacts of lessened sleep, and may even take pride in the fact that they sleep less and therefore have more time to do work or other productive tasks. Compare this with insomnia or insomnia-related conditions, where sufferers understand the extent of their suffering and deeply wish to be able to sleep, but simply can’t. Insomniacs will seek treatment, whereas sleep deprived people will simply go about their day, unaware of the damage they are wreaking to their bodies and minds through their grueling schedules.
What Are The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation?
Even one night of lost sleep might have immediate negative effects. Studies have found that staying awake for 24 hours leads to the behavioral, mental and physical impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10%—for context, you can’t drive in the US with a BAC higher than 0.08%, and driving impairments are seen at 0.05%. This means that short term sleep deprivation can lead to impaired judgement, worsened coordination, and intense impacts on your mental health with mood swings and potential bouts of anxiety or depression.
On the other hand, long term sleep deprivation affects every single part of the body, making you not only more angry, fatigued and forgetful during your waking hours, but also increasing your long-term risk of worsening diseases like obesity, heart attack, and increased blood pressure, as well as exacerbating mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Any healthcare professional, from students of an online ABSN program to your local GP, can tell you the importance of getting adequate rest, and if you’re waking up fighting your alarm, accidentally falling asleep during the day, or crashing into bed absolutely exhausted at bedtime, it might be time to change your sleep habits.
Treatment options
Thankfully, being chronically sleep-deprived is not an illness and is therefore treatable. Make lifestyle changes to allow yourself more hours for sleep, from reducing screen time before bed, to even changing a work schedule to better suit your natural circadian rhythm. Often, the first step of treating sleep deprivation is recognising that less sleep is not better, and therefore prioritizing sleep in your daily routine.
So if you’re getting less than seven hours of sleep a day, it might be time to reevaluate your schedule and make some changes to try and bump those hours up—your mind and body will thank you for it.
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