Everyone knows that sleep is important. It’s hard to beat the feeling of satisfaction that you get from a restful night’s sleep. By the same token, a poor night’s rest can put you on edge and make you feel terrible for the whole day afterwards. Sleep doesn’t just do your brain good – it does your body good too. It’s the time when you regenerate most of your muscles, do a large portion of your digestion,
formulate memories, and even some crazier things. So, what happens when you don’t get enough sleep? Here are 5 bizarre things that your
brain and body do when you’re not able to catch enough ZZZ's.
1. DEATH
If you like living, you shouldn’t be afraid to doze off for a few hours every night. Complete sleep deprivation has led to death in lab animals, and one Chinese guy is said to have died from not sleeping for
11 days straight. While the direct correlation is hard to measure for ethical reasons (you can’t deprive people of sleep in a test to see if they die), we have to rely on what we can test. Taking into account an increased stress level, diabetes risk, hallucinations, and depression, it’s easy to see how not sleeping can lead directly to a long nap 6 feet under.
2. CREATION OF FALSE MEMORIES
Losing out on sleep is known to play a pivotal role in how we shape memories. Exactly how, we’re not sure, but research suggests that losing out on sleep will make you forget
memories or
change them altogether. Right now, the research says anything less than 5 hours will lead to memory impairment, so we recommend getting at least 8 hours, just to be safe.
3. INCREASED RISK FOR DIABETES
Unless you’re into crushing your pancreas with unmanageable glucose, it’d be a good idea to make sure you’re spending enough time between the sheets. Insulin levels aren’t regulated properly if you lose out on too much REM sleep. Add in the fact that sleep loss leads to weight gain, and you’ll start valuing each minute you’re counting sheep a little bit higher.
4. HALLUCINATIONS
One of the most common
byproducts of sleep deprivation is hallucinations. Not just reality augmentation, your brain will start seeing things that aren’t really there. Most hallucinations that people experience are visual, but they can be auditory also. The good news is that it only takes one good night’s sleep for the hallucinations to go away, but you’re in for a wild ride until that happens!
5. WEIGHT GAIN
Sleeping poorly can lead to weight gain in both men and women. Losing sleep causes your body to secrete extra cortisol, a hormone that increases your appetite. In addition to making you want to eat more, cortisol surpluses also lead to added stress and inflammation. Not a good combination if you’re trying to trim some inches off of your waist! Next time you read an article about some famous person like
50 Cent never sleeping, just roll your eyes and move on. Sleep plays a critical role in our lives, both psychologically and physiologically. From forming memories properly to maintaining weight, make sure you’re getting 8 hours every night like doctors recommend. If you’re not sleeping well, get help! It’ll make you feel better, and cut your mortality rate down!
