5 Reasons Why You Should Not Compromise On Sleep

Deep Sleep Heals

We all feel better after a good night's sleep. Sleep is a state of tranquillity, a great mean to escape the stresses of the day. Lack of sleep or chronic insomnia is a major public health problem and affects about 30% of the general population. The impact of insomnia on the health and well-being of insomniacs results in lost productivity and increased cost to society.

Lack of sleep on the chronic basis can bring about various mental and physiological imbalances in the body. In the beginning, these subtle physiological changes might go unnoticed but in the long run, they set the stage for the serious health issues. You have all the reasons not to fall prey to chronic insomnia, here are your 5:

1. Sleep deprivation increases stress levels -- Under stressful conditions, your body produces substances such as cortisol and catecholamine to help you cope with the situation at hand. You react as per your instinct to either fight or flight, making proper use of these chemicals. However, long-term or repetitive production of such substances can adversely affect the entire body.
2. Sleep deprivation increases the chance of depression -- People with insomnia are more likely to have clinically significant depression and anxiety. The relationship between sleep and depressive illness is complex. There is mounting evidence that people who experience disrupted sleep, are at dramatically elevated risk for depression and other psychiatric disorders. Remission of depression cannot be fully achieved until the associated insomnia and daytime sleepiness are resolved.
3.  Insomnia impairs brain function – The brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of neural activity when you are awake. But, it can remove them adequately only while you are asleep, so the lack of sleep can lead to the toxic proteins remain in the brain cells, impairing the ability to think,  process information, impairs short-term and long-term memory, ability to focus and decision-making, and catapults the stress levels and emotional reactivity.
4. Sleep deprivation can make you age faster – Cortisol, the stress hormone when in excess can also make you look older because it breaks down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic.
5. Sleep deprivation can lead to overweight and obesity -- Not getting enough good-quality sleep could increase your risk of  obesity and other metabolic disorders. Sleep deprivation makes you hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and at the same time reducing the levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin. Various studies indicate that people who sleep less than six hours a night are 30 percent more likely to become obese than those who sleep seven to nine hours a night. 

         To your good sleep...