Little sleep: 8 serious health consequences

Everybody knows that getting too little sleep has immediate detrimental effects, such as lack of concentration, decreased proactivity, clumsiness and drowsiness. However, the long-term detrimental effects that can generate the habit of sleeping little.

Harmful effects of not getting enough sleep

The human being needs to rest between 7 and 9 hours a day, but a good part of the adults do not get to sleep those hours because of the busyness of the work life. Those who sleep only 5 or 6 hours (or even less), may be exposing themselves to certain risks. According to a study by the University of Texas, chaining seven nights with a lack of rest already causes Important genetic alterations that can lead to heart disease and obesity, among others pathologies.

In order to summarize and warn of the need to sleep the hours that our body demands, we offer you a list of 8 harmful effects of poor sleep.

1. Increases the risk of cerebrovascular collapse

An investigation by the Mayo Clinic, in the United States, revealed that

sleep deficit increases your chances of having a stroke. Adults who usually rest less than 6 hours have up to a 400% risk of presenting the symptoms of a stroke.

2. Obesity

Resting for a few hours increases your appetite and the number of cravings for high-fat and high-calorie foods. This is explained because when we are not able to fall asleep, we suffer some hormonal readjustments that lead us to be more hungry.

Sleeping 6 hours or less facilitates the production of the hormone related to appetite, ghrelin, at the same time that inhibits leptin, responsible for regulating food intake, as noted by published research on Journal of Academy Nutrition and Dietetics.

3. Increases the risk of diabetes

The publication Journal Sleep revealed that adolescents who do not sleep well have more insulin resistance, a fact that warns of the close relationship between poor sleep and the chances of develop diabetes medium or long term.

4. Loss of memory

Everybody has noticed that when you're tired it's easier to forget things. However, the effect of permanent sleep deprivation can lead to long-lasting cognition problems.

Memory storage processes are carried out during sleep, which allows 'reordering' the cognitive material learned. If we do not rest enough hours, we do not benefit from this restructuring and cause brain deterioration, as pointed out by a study carried out at the University of California.

5. Bone deterioration

An investigation carried out by the Medical College of Wisconsin warned that lack of sleep can cause osteoporosis.

The study was conducted with mice. The scientists warned that the mineral and structural density of bone mass and spinal cord was reduced in rodents under sleep deprivation circumstances.

6. Increases the risk of developing cancer

The American Cancer Society found that getting fewer hours of sleep increases the risk of some cancersr, such as colorectal or breast cancer.

7. Increases the risk of myocardial infarction

Sleep deprivation can cause your body to make more chemicals and hormones that can lead to the development of heart disorders, according to published research on European Heart Journal. The study revealed that those who sleep little, for example less than 6 hours, have 49% risk of heart disease.

8. Little sleep can kill

An investigation made public by Journal Sleep revealed that those who sleep less than 7 hours have shorter life expectancy. Those who sleep a few hours are four times more likely to die in the next 15 years due to different pathologies.

Bibliographic references:

• Diagnostic Classification Steering Committee of the America Sleep Disorders Association. (1990). International classification of sleep disorders-diagnostic and coding manual. Rochester (MN): American Sleep Disorders Association.
• Hornyak M, Feige B, Riemann D, Voderholzer U. (2006). Periodic leg movements in sleep and periodic limb movement disorder: prevalence, clinical significance and treatment. Sleep Med Rev.