Lack of sleep is more dangerous than you've ever thought: According to a new research, the brain starts eating its own connections, worn-out cells and debris when it doesn't get enough sleep.
At a more advanced level, sleep deprivation can over-stimulate parts of the brain and even lead to permanent brain damage, according to a report on sleep deprivation among students published by The Guardian. “This is because of the brain's 'neural plasticity' – which means its ability to adapt to new situations.
Microglia engulf neurons and synapses during development in order to sculpt the neural circuits of the brain. Into adulthood, they continue to eat synapses, pathogens and debris in order to shape memory, stop infections and clear accumulating rubbish from the brain.
Some of the symptoms which can say that your brain is slowly eating itself are - persistent headaches, fever, stiff neck, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, altered mental state, seizures, etc.
Eating a well balanced diet, getting regular exercise, staying mentally active, and keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check will improve sleep as well. You can also tackle any sleep problems by training your brain for better sleep.
In the simplest terms, chronic sleep deprivation refers to the case of getting insufficient sleep or experiencing sleeplessness over an extended period of time.
If you have built up sleep debt, allow extra time for sleep: go to bed early. You sleep more deeply when you are sleep deprived, so you do not need to “pay back” hour for hour the lost sleep. However, if you have not had enough sleep for many days, it might take several nights of good-quality sleep to recover.
Chronic sleep debt is the sleep debt that builds up over months or years. For example, if you need nine hours of sleep, but you've spent your whole adult life only getting six or seven hours of shut-eye, you'll have some serious chronic sleep debt.
The cumulative effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke.
Signs and symptoms of sleep deprivation
Feel tired, irritable, and fatigued during the day; yawn frequently. Have difficulty focusing or remembering things. Feel less interested in sex. Find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, need an alarm clock to wake up on time, or repeatedly hit the snooze button.
Adults should stay awake no longer than 17 hours to meet the CDC's sleep recommendation. People tend to experience the adverse effects of sleep deprivation within 24 hours.
While sleeping in for a morning or two may help ease symptoms like fatigue or daytime sleepiness, this is often not enough to adequately recover from sleep debt. Research has shown that it can take up to four days to recover from one hour of lost sleep and up to nine days to completely eliminate sleep debt.
At 72 Hours: Major Cognitive Deficits and Hallucinations
Expect significant deficits in concentration, motivation, perception, and other higher mental processes after many sleepless hours, Cralle says.
Experts recommend that adults sleep between 7 and 9 hours a night. Adults who sleep less than 7 hours a night may have more health issues than those who sleep 7 or more hours a night.
But if not getting enough sleep is a regular part of your routine, you may be at an increased risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, poor mental health, and even early death. Even one night of short sleep can affect you the next day.
Napping can both help and hurt sleep debt. If you didn't get enough sleep the night before, a nap can help you feel less sluggish during the day. Keep your naps short. Aim for 10 to 20 minutes.
Sleep deficiency is linked to many chronic health problems, including heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression. Sleep deficiency is also linked to a higher chance of injury in adults, teens, and children.
This is because our brain is constantly forming new connections while we are awake. The longer we are awake, the more active our minds become. Scientists believe that this is partly why sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression.
Less than seven to eight hours of sleep can be harmful to human health. Getting less than adequate sleep is known as sleep deprivation [5]. When an individual has multiple consecutive days of sleep deprivation, they enter “sleep debt,” which is a cumulative effect of insufficient sleep for any period of time [6].