The Effects of Sleep Deprivation

How Insomnia Affects Your Physical & Psychological Health

Apr 25, 2007

Sleep deprivation affects your immune system, self esteem, and memory. Insomnia can even cause weight gain. Here, get help on curing insomnia.

Getting good sleep is crucial because sleep deprivation is associated with serious health problems such as obesity, depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Your emotional well-being, performance, productivity, and mental abilities are all linked with getting good sleep. To be your best self, you need to make sure you know how to cure insomnia.

The effects of sleep deprivation could arise from insomnia, disrupted sleep, snoring (yours or others), or waking up early. If you have children, you know firsthand how hard it can be getting good sleep – and what the effects of sleep deprivation are.

The Effects of Sleep Deprivation: Depression & Self Esteem

Sleep-deprived children have longer illnesses, more severe depression, and greater fatigue than those who aren't sleep deprived. Other studies link sleep deprivation with self esteem problems as well. Getting good sleep and curing insomnia helps with fight depression and increase self esteem.

Alex Gardner of the British Psychological Society and emeritus professor of dermatology Ronnie Marks of the University of Wales found that sleep deprivation did not alter study participants' physical appearance. However, the study participants who were sleep deprived felt self-conscious about their appearance and thought their skin showed their lack of rest. They were convinced their looks were affected by their lack of sleep, even though they looked the same as when they were rested. Getting good sleep makes you feel better about yourself. Sleep deprivation can lower your self esteem.

If you're losing sleep your body mass index (BMI) is likely to increase, and so is your waist circumference. Your risk of becoming obese is almost doubled, according to Professor Francesco Cappuccio of Warwick Medical School. He detected this trend in adults and kids as young as five years old. Getting good sleep can help you lose weight.

Sleep deprivation increases appetite through hormonal changes. Specifically, more of the appetite-increasing ghrelin is produced when you're not getting good sleep; less of the appetite-suppressing leptin is produced. Sleep deprivation and insomnia naturally causes you to eat more.

Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen of the Harvard Medical School found that "sleep protects memories from interference." The more quickly you fall asleep after studying for a test or learning a new skill, the more likely you'll remember it later. If you learn new information and then go about your daily business, you'll have about a 44% lower chance of retaining what you've learned. This research could be particularly helpful when you're learning a new job. Getting good sleep helps your memory, while sleep deprivation damages it.

Researchers at the University of Virginia have found that insomnia or lack of sleep can impair IQ and cognitive development in children. Lower grades and poor peer relations could also result from sleep deprivation. Getting good sleep increases cognitive ability.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, your body does show the effects when you're not getting good sleep. Your coordination and motor functions may be impaired, and your reaction time may be delayed. You could have reduced cardiovascular performance, reduced endurance, and increased levels of fatigue because of sleep deprivation. Tremors and clumsiness can also result if you're not getting good sleep.

The copyright of the article The Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Psychology is owned by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen. Permission to republish The Effects of Sleep Deprivation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.