Without Sleep You Destroy Your Brain

 

Everyone knows that drugs and alcohol can damage the brain, but all the clean living in the world may not keep your cranium perfectly healthy. You probably have no idea how much damage lack of sleep is doing to your brain.

If your body is in a state of rest, it’s possible for your muscles and other parts of your body to regenerate even if you are not asleep. This is not possible for your brain, which stays in a state of alertness the entire time you are awake. Your brain can’t refresh itself through ordinary sleep, either. You must reach certain stages of sleep before your brain can even begin to get the rest that it needs. If you consistently don’t get enough sleep, and give your brain enough time to recharge itself, you’re doing a colossal amount of damage to yourself. 

That word colossal isn't being used lightly here. Lack of sleep will affect your behavior, your judgement, and your overall health. It can even be deadly. 

Without proper sleep, the cerebral cortex does not regenerate. This area of the brain is integral in processing language. In tests among sleep-deprived subjects, there was a noticeable lack of activity in the cerebral cortex. This manifests itself as slurred speech.

The frontal lobe experiences a lot of function loss in sleep-deprived brains. This section of the brain is used for creative thinking. Sleep-deprived people show a noticeable difficulty in thinking creatively. They do not have the ability to react to changes as a result. They cannot quickly come up with a decision, and have difficulty focusing on multiple tasks at once. 

Creative thinking isn't even the half of it. The frontal lobe of the brain is also responsible for functions like attention, visual association, judgment, and impulse control, like binge eating….

 

In hand-eye coordination tasks, people who are suffering from sleep deprivation performed just as poorly, or even worse, than those who were intoxicated. By the way, sleep deprivation makes the effects of alcohol much worse. Driver fatigue results in about 1,500 deaths every single year. 

Lack of sleep will cause behavioral changes. Sleep deprived brains experience impaired memory function, an inability to concentrate, irritability, and coordination difficulties. 

 

 

Depriving yourself of sleep can also cause fine lines and other symptoms of aging, because collagen doesn't have adequate time to replicate itself. Sleep deprivation also correlates to an increase in hunger. Not only does it give you an appetite, lack of sleep makes you crave high-carb and high-fat foods. In a brain that does not get enough sleep, metabolism stops functioning efficiently. 

Parts of the brain that help control emotions and social interaction experience greatly reduced activity in sleep-deprived people. 

In time, prolonged sleep deprivation can create hallucinations because brain activity is so impaired. These visions are caused by tired, overused neurons that create fictional images. Extreme sleep deprivation can even lead to temporary insanity.   Depriving the brain of sleep will also aggravate mental illness. It can cause depression and even a psychotic state of paranoia. Sleep deprivation can trigger manic episodes as well. 

Over time, the brain begins to deteriorate.

 

Brains that continue to go without sleep will die. Without sleep, the immune system becomes weak. White blood cell count decreases. The body stops producing enough growth hormones. This weakens you physically and compromises your ability to heal. In some studies, sleep deprivation nearly doubled the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Most adults require about 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night to maintain good health, though pregnant women require more. Caffeine can’t alleviate the effects of severe sleep deprivation. 

Have you got a sleeping problem? Pay attention to your behavior. Notice if you feel drowsy or fall asleep during the day. Pay attention to whether you fall asleep within the first five minutes of lying down. If so, you could have a sleep disorder and likely have severe sleep deprivation. 

Getting six hours of sleep a night, or less, is not healthy. Because of the way it affects your brain, you can easily convince yourself that you’re fine. You may feel that you’re used to sleep deprivation, and that you've adjusted. But that’s your brain exhibiting poor judgment—one of the hallmarks of sleep deprivation. You must stop, now, and start getting some sleep.