How Lack of Sleep Affects Us Physically

We know what a night without sleep can do to us mentally and emotionally. We may be irritable, or our thinking may be fuzzy. But sleep deprivation also can have profound physical impacts on the more than 40 million Americans with sleep problems, according to the Cleveland Clinic. A number of studies have gone so far as to assert that when you don't rest the body with sleep, you cut your life short.

Basics

• According to the Mayo Clinic, the average adult needs seven to eight hours of sleep. Keep in mind that your needs may be different from your friend's. You may be able to function just fine with five hours, while your friend may struggle with nine. Also keep in mind your age and your body condition. A pregnant women, for example, needs more sleep in the first three months of her pregnancy. Babies need at least 14 hours of sleep, and teens upwards of nine hours. Sleep is considered to be deprived when you don't go through the five sleep stages, which include two stages of heavy sleep, followed by two stages of deep sleep and a final stage known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM), according to the American Federation for Aging Research. It is during the REM stage that we have our most vivid and bizarre dreams.

Immunity

• Much has been made of sleep's restorative ability, with regard to boosting the body's ability to fight off viruses and infections. According to the Cleveland Clinic, as you sleep your body is making more cells. Those cells help in rejuvenating your body from the dangers of everyday life, such as stress and exposure to ultra-violet rays. Sleep also helps the body put more resources "in the bank," so it is better prepared to fend off sickness when the potential for an infection, for example, arises.

Chemical Imbalance

• Lack of sleep can cause physiological changes, according to the University of Chicago Medical Center. A UCMC research project deprived healthy young people of deep, restorative sleep for three nights in a row. The results were alarming. It was found that these once a healthy adult's insulin sensitivity decreased, the ability to process blood sugar was hampered, which put the volunteers at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Researchers said the decrease in insulin sensitivity was like what you would expect to see with someone who had gained at least 20 pounds.

Pain

• Researchers are exploring the connection between sleep deprivation and pain. A Johns Hopkins research proejct profiled women who were forcibly awakened from sleep during the night. These women experienced spontaneous episodes of pain, while those who did not have their sleep disrupted did not experience this pain. It's believed that a lack of quality sleep disrupts the body's natural pain controls, which can in turn create or worsen chronic pain, commonly referred to as fibromyalgia.

Survival

• The risks of death are believed to be higher in people who don't get the quality sleep they need than in those who get the recommended, undisturbed sleep. The Cleveland Clinic alluded to studies on rats that showed that those who were deprived of sleep only lived three to five weeks, versus the rats who got sleep and went on to live two or three years. The sleep-deprived rats exhibited low body temps as well as sores, an indication that their immunity had been impaired by sleeplessness.

Others

• Johns Hopkins also reports a number of other physical conditions that are associated with the more than 70 named sleep disorders. These include cardiovascular problems and obesity.