The closest I have come to dangers of irregular sleep patterns is when a sudden ‘sleep attack’ hit me while driving. It was a wake-up call which told me loud and clear about what could happen if I did not get my regular dose of sleep every day.
Getting sleepy while driving is one of the worst situations you could be in. But this is just one of the side effects of irregular sleep patterns that one could come across. The dangers of having irregular sleep patterns and suffering from a lack of sleep is much more dangerous than it appears.
Causes Of Sleep Disorders
For many of us sleep is a waste of time but it is time we changed our thoughts. Sleep, on the contrary, is the time when our body recharges itself. The mind and body get time to relax and prepare for a new day’s work.
To some extent our body is like a machine that needs time to cool down. If you force a machine to work beyond capacity, without giving it time to cool down it will get overheated and finally collapse. The same goes for our bodies. But the damage is not restricted to the physical state. With lack of sleep the mental state is also affected severely.
All About Your Baby's Sleep Pattern
Take a look at some of the dangers you are putting yourself to with an irregular sleep pattern.
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Obesity
The longer you stay awake the greater is the production of hunger stimulating hormone ghrelin and lesser the production of hunger suppressing hormone leptin. This causes you to eat much more than required and ultimately lands you in the obesity class. The only way to avoid this is to get at least six hours of shut eye time every day.
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Multiple Diseases
Sleep deprivation and irregular sleeping habits also exposes you to a host of diseases. And these diseases are no ordinary ones. The dangers of irregular sleep patterns make your susceptible to conditions like heart attacks, heart failure, diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats. Need we say more?
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Skin Damage
Sleep is referred to as a beauty nap by many and this not without reason. When we sleep our skin also goes through a renewing process. Irregular sleep patterns and sleep deprivation provokes the body to produce increased amounts of the hormone cortisol.
Cortisol is known to break down protein in the skin and this leads to loss of skin elasticity and this further leads to development of fine lines and wrinkles. Puffy eyes are not the only damage your skin suffers by lack of sleep.
Forgetfulness
When we do not sleep enough our brains are unable to function properly. It becomes difficult to recall things and names. We often find ourselves struggling for that one word which is at the tip of our tongue but yet elusive. The problem lies in the fact that the brain has not been able to register thoughts and information properly because of lack of sleep.
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Impaired Judgement
Not only do we forget things but our decision taking abilities are also hard hit due to lack of sleep. With a tired and stressed mind it becomes difficult to look at conditions and situations in proper light. It is almost like sanity getting a beating and we end up taking wrong decisions.
Hampered Learning
All that we learn during the day gets converted into memories during our sleep. This helps solidify the learnings’ and stores knowledge for a long, long time. With reduced sleep this process is hampered which in turn leads to development of hindrances in effective learning.
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Accidents
The dangers of irregular sleep patterns go far and wide. With the mind and body balance thrown out of gear it becomes difficult to perform daily functions with efficiency. One of the hard hit areas are the roads where sleep deprived drivers often run into accidents. Sleep deprived driving is as dangerous as drunk driving where reactions become slow and out of control.
Depression
Lack of sleep leads to depression and depression leads to lack of sleep. This is a vicious cycle. For someone trapped in this condition the dangers to mind and body are very high. The affected person will require serious medical treatment to get rid of the condition.
In this fast paced times when we are always running from morn to night there is little time we get to rest. Or shall we say we do not make time for ourselves to take rest and renew our body and mind. We ignore the dangers of irregular sleep patterns and often suffer from sleep deprivation. A conscious effort needs to be made to take proper rest if we want to perform to the best of our abilities.