Should I Worry About How Little I Sleep?

March 9,2018

It depends. At every stage of your life, sleep plays an important role in restoring your good health and protecting your mental well-being. Although most doctors seldom have the opportunity to discuss sleep with a patient, it is as critical to your health and wellness as diet and exercise. Moreover, just like a bad diet or lack of exercise, sleep deprivation can have a negative impact on your body, such as unwanted weight gain. People who fail to get enough sleep often have a bigger appetite due to a reduction in the production of leptin, which is the body's hunger-suppressing hormone. So, what happens at night between the sheets can have a direct impact on how much you eat and the energy level you have during the day.

It would be a wonderful world if everyone had the power to fall asleep and wake up as needed. After all, sleep deficit can affect your learning, thinking, memory and emotional response mechanisms. In addition, not getting enough sleep leads to hormonal imbalances that can hurt your health in the same ways as other negative lifestyle issues. In fact, sleep studies have shown that a severe lack of quality sleep can increase your risk of obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Fortunately, exercising a little discipline and establishing some good sleep habits can be the difference in sleeping through the night or tossing and turning in bed.

The American Industrial Revolution, which was contrary to a human being's natural circadian rhythm, changed forever how we manage time. It is easy for shift work based on a 24-hour day to disrupt a person's sleep patterns. Sleep debt for any reason can cause you to doze off while reading, watching TV, waiting in traffic, or even while you are having a conversation with someone. The result of sleep deficiencies vary among people but it is more difficult for anyone to make good decisions, control his or her emotions, muster the motivation to finish tasks and exhibit the mental sharpness to access to their memories. If you wake up feeling tired or irritable, catch yourself head bobbing during the day or can't stay asleep at night, schedule an appointment at either PrimeMED location to discuss your sleep needs.