We have likely all experienced the many negative side effects of a long night with little to no sleep. The signs are easy enough to recognize in others that you might hear things like “You look tired” and “Are you okay?” as you trudge through your next day after a sleepless night. It is only natural to dismiss common side effects such as headaches, irritability, daytime drowsiness, and inability to focus as a normal part of life, but could these symptoms be a warning sign for something more serious?
Regardless of how common sleep deprivation is, it can still come with many severe consequences, especially if you are not getting enough sleep for several days in a row. After 24 hours without sleep, your brain functions slows and can cause issues with many different aspects of life. Similar to the side effects of many sleep disorders that can lead to a sleep deprived state, the medical effects can be devastating and can take a long time to recover from. Things like decreased metabolic rate, hormone imbalances, depression-like symptoms, and many others can make your day-to-day life more difficult than it needs to be–all for a few hours of sleep.
Limited education on the importance of sleep in brain function may be to blame for the casualness with which we treat long nights with little sleep. Here is our quick guide to everything you need to know about the symptoms and consequences of sleep deprivation!
How Does Sleep Affect Your Brain?
Getting enough sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Though it often falls to the wayside as we prioritize other parts of our lives before sleep, sleep plays a more major role in brain function than many of us think.
Sleep deprivation can have a negative effect on many different aspects of your cognisance and mental health. Proper sleep patterns can help improve memory, regulate metabolism, reduce mental fatigue, and enhance overall mood(1).
With every phase of your sleep cycle, your body is restoring and rejuvenating your brain for optimal function the following day. Even something as seemingly small as relaxing muscles that have been tensed or in constant use throughout your day can also be crucial to proper daily function.To ensure that your brain is getting enough downtime to fully recover from the strain of each day, you should make sure that you are getting 7-8 full hours of sleep each night. Anything less than that can put you into a sleep deprived state and start to negatively impact your health. Without proper sleep, your brain can start to struggle with normal daily activity and these effects can become obvious in your erratic behavior and impaired judgment. After more than 24 hours without sleep, you might even begin to act aggressively toward others.
What is Sleep Deprivation?
Sleep deprivation refers to a weakened medical state caused by a generalized lack of sleep. The negative impacts of sleep deprivation may be a result from any number of different situations, but typically affect individuals who have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep throughout the night.
Though this is similar to insomnia, sleep deprivation is more of a bodily reaction to a lack of sleep whereas insomnia is a condition that makes getting and staying asleep more difficult. In this way, insomnia may result in sleep deprivation, but sleep deprivation can also be caused by a conscious decision not to sleep as long or as often as your body requires.
Whether environmental factors such as a hectic home life, busy work schedule, constant noises keeping you awake, or one of the millions of other things that keep Americans awake, sleep should always be a high priority. As easy as it may seem to trim a few hours off your nighttime routine or to get an extra early start on your morning without giving yourself an earlier bedtime, doing this frequently can lead to depression-like symptoms, drowsiness and fatigue, and less efficient bodily functions such as metabolism, cognitive reasoning, and mood stabilization. Lack of sleep is also linked to an increased risk of work injuries and car accidents due to impaired coordination and reaction time.
Types of Sleep Deprivation
When it comes to sleep deprivation, not all cases are going to look the same. In fact, like many other medical conditions, each individual case is going to be a little bit different. In general, though, there are two types of sleep deprivation that a person might experience.
Acute Sleep Deprivation
This is the condition caused by extreme lack of sleep in a short period of time. Typically this happens over the course of 1-3 days with less than 4 hours of sleep every night. Acute sleep deprivation often has the most extreme initial physiological effects but is also the easiest to recover from. A few nights with proper sleep will help your body snap back from this state of sleep deprivation without necessarily needing medication or any other kind of medical intervention.
Typically acute sleep deprivation is caused by extreme but temporary environmental factors. Maybe you had to work a double shift at work last night and go back in to open the next morning or hosted a sleepover for a room full of energetic children. Things like this happen and they can definitely impact your sleep. If you suffer from occasional acute sleep deprivation, just make sure that you are getting plenty of rest after.
Chronic Sleep Deprivation
Chronic sleep deprivation is classified as a consistent and long-lasting lack of sleep. Typically this comes after at least 3 months of not getting enough rest. This condition can be more difficult to recognize because the body might be masking negative symptoms after a prolonged lack of sleep.
Individuals suffering from chronic sleep deprivation are often only missing a few of those essential hours of sleep so their symptoms are not as extreme or as quick to show themselves. However, symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation can be much harder to recover from and much more medically concerning. Regular poor sleep patterns may lead to serious issues such as weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, anxiety, heart problems, poor cognitive reasoning, and even psychotic episodes if not treated early enough.
Common Causes
Sleep deprivation is not like sleep disorders such as insomnia, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, and so many others. These conditions are typically caused by preexisting medical conditions, genetics, high stress levels, or obesity. Sleep deprivation, however, is the impaired state that comes from a lack of sleep.
Any of these conditions can lead to sleep deprivation, so it is important to keep an eye out for common sleep deprivation symptoms, but sleep deprivation can also be caused by any number of other factors. In fact, the most common reason for sleep deprivation is environmental stressors. Work, family, and other social obligations can feel like they require all of our time and energy to the point that many Americans cut valuable hours off of their sleep schedule to accomplish as much as they can during the nighttime hours. This mindset can be extremely detrimental to overall health and should be avoided at all costs.
Symptoms
Have you ever been sitting in a classroom or a meeting when all of the sudden your eyelids begin to feel like there are rocks tied to your eyelashes? This is one of the first signs of sleep deprivation. Also known as daytime drowsiness or sleep inertia, an overwhelming need for sleep during the day is a sure-fire sign that you are not getting enough sleep at night. Other common early symptoms include frequent yawning, irritability, poor concentration, and clumsiness.
The longer you push your body without proper rest, the worse your symptoms are going to get. Eventually, after a long time without enough sleep, you could begin experiencing symptoms such as weight gain, diabetes, cardiac abnormalities, and compromised mental health. These symptoms can make themselves known in a variety of different ways from erratic mood swings and aggressive behavior to the more obvious hike on the numbers on your bathroom scale. If you experience any of these symptoms, it is important to seek medical help right away. Some of these side effects can be difficult to treat the longer they persist.
How Can A Sleep Medicine Specialist Help You?
The most effective way to treat extreme sleep deprivation symptoms or the sleep disorders that may be the cause of these issues is to see a sleep medicine specialist. Sleep medicine specialists can help you find the root of your problem and treat it in the most healthy way for your body and your lifestyle.
At Gingras Sleep Medicine in Charlotte, NC, Dr. Gingras will take a thorough history to determine the cause of your sleep deprivation. She may order a sleep study if she suspects an underlying sleep disorder. Sleep studies are very effective tools used to evaluate how your body functions while you sleep. This test measures your heart rate, oxygen level, breathing, brain waves, and body movements. It is helpful for identifying a variety of sleep problems and has helped millions of people get back on track to healthier sleep patterns.
To book your appointment with Dr. Gingras today, visit us online or give our office a call today at (704) 944-0562!
1Eugene AR, Masiak J. The Neuroprotective Aspects of Sleep. MEDtube Sci. 2015 Mar;3(1):35-40. PMID: 26594659; PMCID: PMC4651462.