Sleep deprivation
Insufficient sleep is linked to several diseases and conditions, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity, and depression.
A lack of sleep can make you sick by interrupting your body’s metabolic activities, hormone regulation, immunity, and cellular repair.
It’s crucial to know that certain bodily activities, like metabolism regulation, and macroscopic brain waste clearance by the glymphatic system, only occur while asleep. Hence, sleep deprivation robs you of maintenance.
This article explores the diseases and conditions linked to sleep deprivation with links to studies for further reading and analysis.
Migraines and headaches
Migraines and tension headaches that put you out of action can result from sleep deprivation. Studies also show that a lack of sleep reduces the body’s pain threshold, making headaches and migraines more painful.
While it is unclear why a lack of sleep causes migraines and headaches, it could partly be due to the brain’s waste clearance system not running.
The glymphatic system is a macroscopic waste clearance system that eliminates soluble proteins and metabolites from the central nervous system. One of these is beta-amyloid, which is linked to headaches and dementia.
Dementia
Dementia is most people’s worst fear, so it’s scary to know that a lack of sleep may increase the risk of dementia. For example, there is a 30% increase in dementia risk in people aged 50, 60, and 70 with short sleep duration.
However, the worst is that studies suggest our sleep patterns earlier in life may contribute to dementia risk – something we can’t change now. Thankfully, the NHS says there are other ways to prevent dementia.
Type 2 diabetes
Sleeping less causes less insulin to be released into your body after eating, so too much glucose stays in your bloodstream. This increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and exasperates problems for those living with it.
Research by Diabetes.org.uk found that insomnia may cause high blood sugar levels, directly increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Obesity
Sleep disturbance leads to weight gain in the same way it can cause type 2 diabetes – by reducing glucose metabolism. Evidence suggests that poor sleep quality is one of the most significant factors in obesity and unwanted weight gain.
Additionally, the hunger hormone ghrelin is impacted by sleep, with ghrelin levels increasing after poor sleep. This leads to bad dietary choices.
This analysis of 20 studies into sleep duration and obesity risk concludes that short sleep duration increases the risk of obesity.
Cardiovascular disease
Sleep deprivation is known to significantly increase the risk of developing hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes mellitus.
Sleep deprivation affects heart health because circulatory maintenance occurs during sleep when blood pressure drops by around 10-20%.
Research shows that people sleeping less than six hours per night have a 20% higher chance of a heart attack – scary figures you should pay attention to.
Stroke
There is a solid relationship between sleep duration and stroke risk factors, with short and long sleep duration increasing the risk for stroke and mortality.
Stroke risk factors increase with insufficient sleep because of poor blood pressure regulation. Higher blood pressure is considered the leading risk factor for strokes, so getting adequate sleep is recommended by doctors.
Depression
Research shows that non-depressed people with insomnia or sleep deprivation have a twofold risk of developing depression. Additionally, depression can trigger sleep problems, so the two conditions are closely linked.
Sleep deprivation can cause depression by increasing stress and anxiety hormones in the body, elevating blood pressure, and triggering cognitive decline. Being sleep-deprived makes you more emotional and susceptible to being overwhelmed, which can impact your everyday life.
Anxiety
Sleep deprivation increases the risk of developing anxiety and can spur a negative cycle, where anxiety fuels further sleep problems. Studies show that people with insomnia are 9.8 times more likely to have anxiety.
Another problem is sleep performance-related anxiety, where you can’t sleep because you are anxious about falling asleep.
While some people are more susceptible to anxiety, sleep deprivation can catch anyone out and make them more anxious than usual.