Causes of Sleep Deprivation

Causes Of Sleep Deprivation Sleep is very important in our daily lives and we need about eight hours of sleep every night. Sleep helps the brain commit new information. When you have lack of sleep it is difficult to get up in the mornings, you feel sleepy throughout the day, and you’re just not feeling your best. Lifestyle is the biggest and most common cause of sleep deprivation. It affects the ability to sleep well in an individual’s life. Some people do not realize how their sleeping conditions might interfere with their daily routines. Having a poor quality of sleep means while being asleep, you’re staying in the lighter stages of sleep and not entering the deep refreshing stages needed to fully recharge. Finding yourself constantly waking up in the night is a sign of poor quality of sleep. Poor quality of sleep can be caused by stress, worry, excitement, illnesses and some medical problems. Lack of sleep can even cause you to gain weight. Some reasons why people do not get enough are having a job, participating in sports, and having to do school work. Although having a job as a teenager is beneficial because you can make money, it can cause you to lose a lot of sleep. Working those late night shifts on a school night can take away many hours of your sleep. You could be staying up late after work to finish your homework that is due the next day. Having to worry about your job and homework, causes stress and could cause your grades to decrease. There's also a growing sense that shift work could be taking a serious toll on their health. People who do shift work tend to have sleep disturbances and sleep loss. They might feel isolated, since their job cuts them off from their friends and families. Many teenagers enjoy going out for sports but it can cause having sleep problems. Any kind of sport practice or game could go late due to overtime, injuries, timeouts, etc. Whether you have a job or homework to finish, it could lead you to staying up late. Getting injured in the sport you participate in could cause you to have sleeping problems due to the aching pain. Lack of sleep could indeed lead to weight gain. Not getting enough sleep slows your metabolism. When you have sleep deprivation and are running on low energy, you automatically go for a bag of potato chips or other comfort foods. Unwanted pounds as poor food choices coupled with lack of exercise set the stage for obesity and further sleep loss. It’s not so much that if you sleep, you will lose weight, but if you are sleep deprived, your metabolism will not function properly. Your metabolism is a lot slower when you’re sleep deprived. Sleep plays a critical role in thinking and learning. Lack of sleep hurts these cognitive processes in many ways. It impairs attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning, and problem solving. This makes it more difficult to learn efficiently. During the night, various sleep cycles play a role in “consolidating” memories in the mind. If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t be able to remember what you learned and experienced during the day. Sleep loss can lead to wrinkly skin, fine lines, and dark circles under the eyes. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases more of the stress hormone, Cortisol. In excess amounts, Cortisol can break down skin collagen, the protein that keeps skin smooth and elastic.
Sleep loss also causes the body to release too little human growth hormone. When we’re young, human growth hormone promotes growth. As we age, it helps increase muscle mass, thicken skin, and strengthen bones. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. Insomnia is difficulty initiating or maintaining normal sleep. It can result in nonrestorative sleep and interfere with the way you function during the day. Insomnia is often a characteristic of depression and other mental health disorders. With insomnia, you may sleep too little, have difficulty falling asleep, awaken frequently throughout the night, or be unable to get back to sleep. Sleep is one of the signs of depression. Another sign of depression is sleeping too much or oversleeping. Having a sleep disorder does not cause depression, but lack of sleep does play a role. Lack of sleep caused by another medical illness or by personal problems can make depression worse. With untreated depression, you may have overwhelming feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, or guilt. These feelings can interrupt sleep. Getting the medical help you need to get enough sleep can help you get through your daily tasks. Getting the amount of sleep for any occasion is the most important thing. Teenagers need the right amount of sleep every night to function properly yet many still have problems doing so due to the demands of life. A lack of sleep affects a teenager’s life both in the short-term and long-term. Sleep deprivation affects a person not only physically but also emotionally. Sleepleep deprivation causes drowsiness, inability to concentrate the next day, hallucinations, mood swings and many other potentially serious health problems in teenagers. Sleep deprivation is dangerous and could have significant consequences if one fails to change sleep habits. There are multiple reasons why people do not get enough sleep but some reasons are from having a job and working night shifts, participating in sports, and finishing homework that is due the next day.