How Can Sleep Affect Your Health?
Sleep affects your health because it is only during the state of sleep that your body can repair, restore and re-energise properly.
We have all felt the effects of a bad night’s sleep, where we feel muggy and struggle to concentrate appropriately. With extended periods of sleep deprivation, our brain and body struggle to function normally, which is why there are signs at the side of the motorway that say, “Tiredness can kill, take a break.”
But how does sleep affect your health exactly? Let’s find out!
Poor sleep symptoms
An occasional night without sleep makes you feel tired and irritable. While debilitating, this won’t harm your health because the effects are mild, easily remedied with some good shuteye the next night.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of the symptoms of poor sleep:
- Slowed thinking
- Trouble speaking
- Bad memory
- Lack of energy
- Irritability
- Reduced strength
- Extreme mood changes
After several sleepless nights, the mental and physical effects are more pronounced. Your energy levels drop off a cliff, you’ll ache, you’ll be highly irritable, and every little task will feel like a monumental challenge.
You’re probably wondering why. The answer is simple - poor sleep saps you of energy, strength, and mental efficiency because your body doesn’t have the time it needs to heal itself and rid itself of toxins that build up during the day.
Why lack of sleep is bad for your health
Your body enters a reduced metabolic rate, where energy is allocated to repair, restore, and re-energise your brain and body. This process can’t occur without sleep, creating a wide range of nasty side effects.
Your brain
The noticeable impact is on the brain. A recent study found that the brain and spinal cord fluid washes in and out of the brain in waves during sleep. This process cleanses and detoxes your brain, ridding it of toxic build-up during the day.
Now, imagine stopping this process. Like a fish tank that never gets cleaned, your brain would build up to dangerous levels of toxicity! Every time you get poor sleep, you feel this symptom reduced mental cognition often referred to as "Brain Fog".
Sleep is also the only time your brain can reorganise its neural network. When sleeping, your brain reorganises its neural network to store information efficiently. Without sleep, this process can’t take place at all.
Your body
During sleep, your body produces the bulk of its white blood cells. White blood cells are responsible for immunity and healing; they attack viruses and deal with infections, so they are essential to your physical health.
Without sleep, your body can’t produce enough white blood cells to bolster your immune system and keep you well. You are at increased risk of disease with poor sleep because your body cannot fight disease and infection.
Poor sleep imbalances energy requirements. With insufficient sleep, you need more calories during the day to fight lower energy levels. Often, this means eating sugary foods and foods that are high in unhealthy fats.
Decreased sleep is directly linked to increased blood sugar levels, associated with diabetes, a chronic blood sugar disorder.
Why good sleep is good for your health
Boosted immunity
Poor sleep decreases immunity by reducing white blood cell production.
Heart health
Poor sleep and insomnia are linked to high blood pressure and heart disease.
Weight loss
Poor sleep creates an energy imbalance, making you crave and consume more calories.
Mental wellbeing
Poor sleep makes you irritable, but it can also fuel anxiety, stress, and depression.
Prevent diabetes
Poor sleep wreaks havoc on blood glucose levels, contributing to diabetes.
Increased sex drive
Poor sleep equals less interest in sex, especially in insomnia and sleep apnoea cases.
Increased fertility
Studies have found that poor sleep reduces fertility by restricting reproductive hormones.
Increased memory
Sleep plays a crucial role in memory retention, with sleep deprivation linked to memory loss.