Based on a study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, an average adult is supposed to sleep for at least seven hours each night. Even so, there are a good number of adults who do not get to enjoy these required minimum hours of sleep. This can be caused by staying up to watch your favorite TV show, to read a book, to work late or have parties. However, it is unhealthy to get less than seven hours of sleep each night. If you do not get the required hours of sleep, you’ll eventually develop serious health issues.
What Are the Bad Effects of Sleeping Late?
Higher Risk of Sickness
According to research conducted on more than 50,000 adults, people who do not sleep for at least 7 hours were more prone to diseases such as diabetes and heart conditions. They are also likely to suffer a stroke and cancer.
High Blood Pressure
Sleeping late stresses your body and mind, which can cause a spike in blood pressure. When this fluctuation in blood pressure occurs for a long time, it can cause damage to the heart, arteries and kidneys, or lead to loss of vision.
Reduction in Effectiveness of Immune Vaccines
When you overwork your body and progressively get less sleep than you should, it can eventually weaken your immune system. When this happens, the effectiveness of immunizations can reduce. Immunizations are used to help your body to create antibodies that fight certain infections. Your body is unable to effectively create antibodies which leave it prone to infections.
Higher Risk of Dying
People who do not get at least 7 hours of sleep have a fifteen percent higher risk of dying from any condition. This was a result obtained from three different researches done to find the effects of sleeping late.
Stress
Sleeping late encourages your body to produce cortisol. This is a stress hormone. When this happens, you are more likely to develop depression due to brain overactivity. Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia are also long term effects of stress caused by sleeping late.
Becoming Unproductive
According to neuroimaging studies, the brain is more alert and ready to recognize and analyze information when one is well rested. If you suddenly find that you have become unproductive, it could be because you are not getting enough sleep. Also, lack of concentration is connected to lack of adequate sleep.
Mood Swings
If you are keen, you will notice that you are at your worst mood when you haven’t gotten enough rest or sleep. When you sleep late, you wake up feeling exhausted. This automatically affects your moods. In a study, seventy eight medical residents were asked to keep track on their sleeping patterns. The results showed that exhaustion due to lack of enough sleep triggered negative emotions. Actually, it was found that sleeping late or deprived sleep has far worse effects on your mood than that it has on your cognitive or motor performance.
Dark Eye Patches
If you have a habit of sleeping late, you will notice that you probably have dark circles around your eyes. Also, you are likely to develop pimples and other skin issues because of sleeping late.
Obesity
According to studies, people who sleep late are likely to sleep in during morning hours. This prompts them to skip breakfast. When this happens, one is likely to eat a lot before it is lunch time, mostly junk. This weakens your metabolism and prompts the body to store fat. Eventually, this leads to obesity. Also, obesity as one of the effects of sleeping late can occur because one tends to over eat at night when they are awake.
A Heavy Voice
You have probably noticed that your voice sounds different in the morning. Sleeping late has adverse effects on your voice tone and quality. Your voice will eventually become rough and hoarse when you develop the habit of going to bed late and waking up early. Getting out of bed late is even more dangerous for chain smokers who will smoke more because they are up till late.
Insomnia
When you go to bed late, you force your system to adjust to an abnormal sleeping routine. Therefore, you will find it harder to fall asleep and then struggle to sleep throughout the night when you eventfully fall asleep.
Accident Prone
During your day to day activities, the effects can well be noted in your ability to deliver. When you do not sleep, you are more prone to error. You will find that you make mistakes you can easily avoid. According to studies, a high percentage of all accidents on the roads and in the workplace are as a result of lack of sleep and daytime drowsiness.
Low GPA Scores
According to studies conducted on university students, students who are sleep deprived record lower GPA scores than their counterparts. The human brain requires time to cycle through different deep sleep phases in order to solidify your memory. When you do not sleep, you deprive your brain of the much needed time to reboot. This leads to forgetfulness and hence lower grades.
Twitching Eyes
Lack of adequate sleep can cause fatigue. This leads to the development of a condition known as nystagmus, which causes the involuntary rapid movement of the eyeballs.
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