Are you proud of the fact that you sleep 5 hours a night and manage to do everything in the world? Get ready for some bad news.
After just a week of sleep deprivation, your brain works like a person who is drunk - slow reactions, mistakes in simple tasks and memory lapses.
And that's just the beginning. Hormonal imbalances make you overeat, and your immune system weakens so much that even a mild cold can lead to complications.
The heart wears out faster, the risk of diabetes increases, and the skin ages as with chronic stress.
The worst part is that you stop realizing how tired you are—your body gets used to the adrenaline and cortisol, masking the problem.
It is possible to restore healthy sleep, but you will have to revise your schedule: go to bed before midnight, put away gadgets an hour before bed, and create rituals, such as a warm shower or meditation.
Remember: you can’t sleep “in advance,” and one hour of sleep before 12 midnight is equal to two hours after.
But how exactly does sleep deprivation kill you from the inside? Consider this: During the night, the brain must “cleanse” itself through the glymphatic system, removing toxins.
If you don't get enough sleep, beta-amyloid plaques (associated with Alzheimer's) build up. After 10 years, this can lead to dementia.
And lack of sleep also disrupts the production of leptin, the satiety hormone. You eat 300-500 calories more per day, and you crave fatty and sweet foods.
Sleeping less than 6 hours a night increases the risk of dying from heart disease by 48%.
And if you work the night shift, your body never adapts – your circadian rhythms are disrupted, which leads to depression and cancer.
What to do? Create complete darkness in the bedroom (black curtains, eye mask), maintain the temperature at 18-20 degrees Celsius and buy an orthopedic pillow.
And if you can't fall asleep, don't toss and turn - get up and read a book in dim light. Your brain should associate the bed only with sleep.
