Tired people are not happy, healthy or safe. Here are some of the things that go wrong when you don’t get enough sleep.
Sleep and Illness
People who get less than seven hours of sleep a night are more likely to have chronic health problems like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, depression and premature death.
While the long-term health risks of bad sleep are enough to keep you awake at night, there’s more bad news. You’re also more likely to catch a cold. In one surprising study, researchers found 164 men and women who were willing to take nose drops that exposed them to the cold virus. (And that’s not the most surprising part of the story.) You might think that everyone who willingly puts a cold virus in their nose would get sick, but they don’t. A healthy immune system can fight off a cold. But not a sleep-deprived immune system. The people most likely to get sick from the cold-infused nose drops? Those who got six or fewer hours of sleep.
The Tired Brain
A tired brain is not a wise brain, and people who are sleep deprived make more mistakes. The American Insomnia Survey, published in 2012, estimated that 274,000 workplace accidents were directly related to sleep problems. The bill for these sleep-deprived mistakes? $31 billion annually.
Why does this happen? While the body goes into rest mode during sleep, the brain becomes highly active. Think of your brain like a computer or a smartphone that uses the nighttime to back up all your data. One of its big jobs is to consolidate memories, link with old memories and create paths for you to retrieve memories. It also forms connections between disparate thoughts and ideas. That’s why sometimes, when you wake up, a big idea suddenly pops into your head. And it’s why, when you don’t sleep, your thinking and memory are fuzzy. Some research suggests that when you don’t sleep (like when students pull an all-nighter), your ability to learn new information drops by almost half.
Toxins in the Attic
Another important function of sleep is that it allows the brain to do some mental housekeeping. Yes, sleep helps you clean up the cerebellum, polish the parietal and flush the frontal lobe. Sleep cleans out the toxic junk in your brain. In mouse studies, researchers found that during sleep, the space between brain cells gets bigger, allowing the brain to flush out toxins. While more study is needed, the research suggests that not sleeping can allow toxins to accumulate and may be linked with brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Driving While Tired
Drowsy driving is as much of a safety risk as drunk driving or texting and driving. Studies show that going without sleep for 20 to 21 hours and then getting behind the wheel is comparable to having a blood alcohol level of about .08 percent, the legal limit in most states. If you’re awake for 24 hours and then try to drive, you’re at a blood alcohol equivalent of 0.1 percent, which is higher than the legal limit in all states.
You are at risk for drowsy driving if you get less than six hours of sleep at night. Another risk factor is snoring. Snorers also are at risk for drowsy driving because snoring is a sign of sleep apnea and interrupted sleep. (See our section below, “Call a Doctor,” for more on sleep apnea.)
In 2009, an estimated 730 deadly motor vehicle accidents involved a driver who was either sleepy or dozing off, and an additional 30,000 crashes that were nonfatal involved a drowsy driver. Accidents involving sleepy drivers are more likely to be deadly or cause injuries, in part because people who fall asleep at the wheel either fail to hit their brakes or veer off the road before crashing.
Groggy drivers often blast the radio or roll down the window to stay awake, but those measures don’t really work, say experts. Coffee or a caffeinated drink may help, but some individuals don’t get much of an effect. The best advice if you find yourself sleepy at the wheel: Pull over for a quick cat nap.
Sleep and Weight Gain
For years researchers have known that adults who sleep less than five or six hours a night are at higher risk of being overweight. Among children, sleeping less than 10 hours a night is associated with weight gain. Some research even shows that losing just a few hours of sleep a few nights in a row can lead to almost immediate weight gain.
Part of the reason may be that sleep-deprived people eat more. Staying up late and skimping on sleep leads to more eating in general, and a hankering for carbohydrates.In one study, sleep-deprived eaters ended up eating more calories during after-dinner snacking than in any other meal during the day. By the end of the first week the sleep-deprived subjects had gained an average of about two pounds. Over all, people consumed 6 percent more calories when they got too little sleep. Once they started sleeping more, they began eating more healthfully, consuming fewer carbohydrates and fats.
Sleep Habits
The first step toward better sleep is better “sleep hygiene” – daily habits that train your body for sleep.
Manage Your Clock
Like most creatures on earth, humans come equipped with a circadian clock, a roughly 24-hour internal timer that keeps our sleep patterns in sync with our planet. At least until our personal habits get in the way.Here are the key factors that matter for your “sleep hygiene”:
- Bedtime: Go to bed at about the same time every night, including weekends.
- Don’t Sleep In: Keep your wake-up time consistent. Don’t sleep in on the weekends.
- Naps: Avoid naps. If you must take a nap, set the alarm so you don’t sleep for more than an hour. Don’t take a nap after 3 p.m.
- Keep to a Schedule: Schedules aren’t just about bedtime and wake-up time. It also means eating your meals, taking medications, exercise and even watching television should occur about the same time every day to keep your body clock in sync.
- Avoid Screens: Turn off the tablet, the television and the phone. The blue light in your screen has the same effect on your brain as sunlight, which means it wakes you up just when you want to be drifting off.
Think Spa Bedroom: Make your bedroom a pleasant, peaceful and relaxing getaway. Get rid of exercise equipment, televisions, small children, etc.
Beds Are for Sleep and Romance: Don’t use the bed for watching television, talking on the phone, doing homework or eating and drinking.
Work Out Early: Strenuous exercise is not a good idea right before bedtime. Try yoga.
No Night Eating: Don’t eat meals close to bedtime and avoid evening and late night snacking. If your body is churning through a big meal, it’s certainly not going to get the rest it needs. And if you’re overweight or prone to digestion problems, you’re likely to experience painful heartburn and reflux if you binge too close to bedtime.
Catch Some Morning Rays: Sunlight keeps your internal clock ticking. Go outside as soon as you wake up and spend at least 15 minutes in the morning sun. (And if it’s a hot sun, use sunscreen.)
Keep It Cool: Cool bodies sleep better, but most people keep their bedrooms too warm at night, which can interfere with sleep. Taking a hot bath before bedtime is a good idea, because once you get out of the bath, your body cools down more quickly, which will help you drift off to sleep.
If you have adopted better sleeping habits and you are still suffering from chronic sleepiness, you may need to see a doctor.
More than 40 million Americans suffer from chronic, long-term sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million report sleeping problems occasionally, according to the National Institutes of Health. Here are some of the medical reasons people are losing sleep at night.
Insomnia: If you regularly have trouble with falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early, you suffer from insomnia. Treatment includes behavioral therapy, strict sleep hygiene and medication.
Sleep Apnea: If you suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, the cause may be sleep apnea. A person typically doesn’t know he or she has sleep apnea, and is usually alerted to the problem by a bed partner who must cope with the loud snoring, snorts and gasps that are often associated with the disorder. A person with sleep apnea experiences pauses in breathing while sleeping. These pauses can last for seconds to minutes and occur dozens of times in an hour. Breathing restarts with a gasp, a choking sound or a snort. When this occurs, a person may not wake up, but he or she moves from deep sleep to light sleep, and wakes feeling tired and fatigued.Sleep apnea is unpleasant for a bed partner, and it’s risky to your health. If you think you have it, see a doctor.
Restless Legs Syndrome: An estimated 8 percent of the population has restless legs syndrome, a neurological condition. There are four basic symptoms that occur with R.L.S.:
1. A strong urge to move your legs, sometimes accompanied by a burning sensation.
2. Your symptoms are worse when you body is at rest.
3. Symptoms improve when you move.
4. Symptoms are worse at night.
Anxiety: Anxiety can interfere with sleep. And feeling sleep-deprived can cause anxiety. Most psychiatric disorders are linked with some type of sleep problem. And people with chronic insomnia are at risk for anxiety disorders.
Hot Flashes: Hot flashes aren’t limited to the daytime, and at night they can disrupt sleep and leave a menopausal woman soaked in her own sweat, causing her discomfort or waking her up enough to prompt her to change clothes and try to go back to bed. Hormone treatments and antidepressants may help, or a woman can just gut it out and hope she is not a superflasher.
Get Studied
If you suffer from a chronic sleep problem or suspect you have sleep apnea, your doctor may order a sleep study. There are three types of sleep studies.
Polysomnogram: This study, called a PSG, is requires an overnight stay at the sleep lab. Patients are fitted with sensors and then allowed to sleep. During the night the study will record brain activity, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, body movements and more.
Multiple Sleep Latency Test: An M.S.L.T. sleep study is performed during the day and measures daytime sleepiness. Patients are given opportunities to nap for 20 minutes every few hours while your brain and eye movements are monitored.
Maintenance of Wakefulness Test: The M.W.T. is a daytime sleep study that measures alertness and your ability to stay awake. It’s used to assess sleep issues in a person where sleepiness is a safety issue, like a bus driver or train operator.
What Happens During a Sleep Study
Sleep studies are a strange experience. Wires and electrodes are placed on your scalp and face, near the eyes and chin to detect eye movements and chin movements caused by teeth grinding. Elastic belts may be placed around your chest and stomach to measure breathing. A tube may be placed in the nose to measure breathing, and electrodes placed on the legs to measure leg movement. EKG monitors are used to measure heart rate and a small microphone is placed on the throat to detect snoring. While it sounds impossible to sleep under these conditions, most of the people who need a sleep study eventually fall asleep – at least long enough for the technicians to gather the data they need.