Disorders & Snoring|The effect of poor sleep on health

The effect of poor sleep on health
Link between sleep & depression

Adequate sleep is that sleep which makes us feel refreshed and makes us function properly the following day. The amount of hours spent in bed though, is not as important; and it differs from person to person. Sleep loss, is best defined in individual terms as to what what the sleep need for each person is.

Sleep loss can affect a lot of serious consequences to the body. Lack of sleep keeps us unwell, and reduces thinking & response abilities. From increased traffic accidents, to workplace issues, mood disorders; and depression, lack of sleep can have a lot of negative effects on the body's health.

All physiological reactions to the phenomenon of sleep deprivation or sleep loss are maladaptive, since we do not have mechanisms to adapt to lack of sleep. Chronic lack of sleep can have serious physical consequences. Sleep loss even has adverse effects on the body's ability to metabolize sugar. Inside a single week of severe sleep deprivation, a healthy, person can be in a pre-diabetic state.

Sleep loss, also causes increase in hunger and appetite as well as major alterations in hormonal systems which regulate hunger as well as appetite. When sleep-deprived, the body can overeat in a way that is in excess of caloric demands, and, therefore, sleep loss has been noted to be a major risk factor for obesity.

Lack of sleep can also set off a variety of hormonal changes, thereby affecting mood patterns and growth. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is very low during the hours of evening, since it prepares the body for relaxed state in going to sleep. In a state of sleep loss, cortisol levels are elevated in the evening. TLink between sleep and depression herefore, sleep loss is also a major cause of stress

Young girls and boys when entering puberty, have pulsations of various hormones from brain areas that bring on puberty. These pulsations occur during night times during sleep. Therefore, when not on normal sleep-wake cycles, they can interfere with pulsatile secretions of hormones and can affect the onset of puberty. And during puberty, affects height and growth patterns.