What are the effects of sleep deprivation ?
Lack of sleep can cause mental impairment, loss of concentration, muscle fatigue, depression, irritability and headaches.
More severely it can cause heart problems, blood pressure problems, increased risk of diabetes, psychosis, tremors and mental confusion.
There is a reason why sleep deprivation is used as torture. Everyone needs both long wave (deep sleep) and REM sleep to function normally. There is a rare condition that prevents the patients brain from going into REM sleep. It is fatal after 4 months.
Sleep deprivation is extremely harmful for your body. During your REM stage of sleep (the deepest form of sleep), you're repairing any damages done to your bones. You're also throwing away all "waste" accumulated from your blood stream and from your general body. You learn faster and better after sleeping, of course, because you have more time for clear consolidation of information. You're not giving a break to your body. Although when you're asleep, your brain is still working, a lot of parts of it is actually taking a rest.
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Try to take some sleep pill. Or maybe you're worring too much about something? Anyhow, caffeine certainly doesn't help (caffeine removes important minerals and electrode from your body which are essential for actually moving, AND it dehydrates you)
Obviously you'll be really sleepy (duh). However, even thought that's obvious, at some point you won't be able to fight it anymore. You will sleep. When you can't sleep, your body will start going into something called microsleeps (sleep episodes that last a couple of seconds). Being awake for 17 hours and getting behind the wheel is as bad as being legally drunk--your reaction time is just as affected in either situation. Sleep deprive yourself for a few days and you'll experience hallucinations/delusions. Don't sleep for a night and you'll experience the inability to regulate your emotions (that why lots of people start becoming hyper or irritable)... the part of your brain that is responsible for control over your emotions stops really working as well. If you have bipolar disorder, you may become manic. If you were depressed, actually, after a night of sleep deprivation you may actually feel better (you'll crash later though when you eventually do fall asleep). Sleeping well is especially important if you have a mood disorder.
You won't encode new memories as well, because of your mood you're actually also more likely to encode more of the negative stuff than positive stuff that's going on around you, sleep is a time when we "consolidate" or strengthen our memories so this won't happen if you don't sleep. If you're interested--look for lectures by Matt Walker or Bob Stickgold on youtube... they're fun speakers to listen to and you'll learn a lot.
Your ghrelin and leptin levels will be out of whack. These are hormones that regulate your appetite. Restrict your sleep by a couple of hours every day for a long time and you'll gain weight and edge towards pre-diabetes. Speaking of diabetes, you're insulin levels are also messed up that will push you even further into diabetes. You're immune system won't work as well. Your body also needs rest to repair itself and remove neurotoxins.
But, eventually your body will shut down and go to sleep (or at least steal those precious seconds of microsleep). It's kind of like forcing yourself to hold your breath---your body will eventually give in.
Unless you're one of those incredibly unlucky people with Fatal Familial Insomnia. Then you die. Look it up on youtube... there's a really good documentary up there about it. You become senile, comatose, and then you die. It's horrible, but is an extreme example of what happens in the most severe form of sleep deprivation. It is incredibly rare (less than 100 people in the world have been diagnosed EVER).
it is not depression you feel it is fatigue . and yes it is common . growing up i had trouble with that . i was always taught that a person requires 8 hrs sleep . but later i learned some need more and some need less . i was in the less category . i would go up to 4 week . today i can see when it is coming on and stop it . take yawning . for years people thought it was due to need for sleep . but in fact it is the body reaction to lack of blood flow to the brain . when you yawn you stretch the muscles in you neck thus providing more blood flow to the brain . even during sleep you unknowingly cut down the flow . either by having to thick of a pillow pushing your neck into a odd position . or by twisting your body to do the same . as a child i would sleep in a fetal position . about the age of 10 i began having leg problems . mother said it was growing pains . and for years i thought that was it . then at the age of 13 i had enough and began looking into it myself . i found that the position was the problem . so i began braking myself of it . that was thought to do . but from that i began sleeping on my back with a pillow on my head instead of under it . and till this day i can not fall asleep in another position . having the pillow on my head and my arms crossed over it and along with that a pillow under my knees . this is the same affect of sleeping on a medical bed . legs elevated above the heart . arm above . and slight pressure on the blood vein in the fore head . this vein is important .
Thanks To https://en.wikipedia.org/
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