Over the years, we have gained much more information about the role that sleep plays in our health and well-being. In fact, how you feel while you are awake has a large bearing on how well you sleep at night. Getting quality sleep each night will help your physical health, your mental health and the overall quality of your life.
During sleep, your body works to support healthy physical and mental functioning. But not getting enough sleep can impact the body in many ways. Sleep deficiency can not only affect how well you think, work, learn and react but can also increase your risk of many chronic health issues.
Sleep and Daytime Functioning
Quality sleep helps ensure that you are able to function during the day safely. People who are chronically sleep deficient find that they are less productive and often take longer to finish tasks. Their reaction times are slower and studies find that they make more mistakes.
Sleep deficiency can lead to instances of microsleep. These are moments during your normal waking cycle when you sleep without being consciously aware of it. This can be dangerous. Studies show that sleep deficiency can harm your driving capability as much as driving under the influence. It’s estimated that approximately 100,000 automobile accidents each year are due to sleep deficiency.
But it doesn’t just affect drivers. Workers in all sectors are subject to sleep deficiency issues. When you consider that physicians, nurses, pilots and other workers in other industries who are entrusted with lives are often conducting their work while being sleep deficient, it can be very concerning. We know that sleep deficiency has already played a role in tragic accidents involving large ships, airplanes and nuclear reactors.
Sleep and Physical Health
Getting quality sleep plays a vital role in physical health. It supports healthy growth and brain development, it also helps repair cells and can assist with boosting muscle mass.
Sleep deficiencies have been linked to increased risks for obesity, kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and high blood pressure. Sleep also affects how your hormones work and your blood sugar levels.
Your body’s ability to fight against foreign or harmful substances can be greatly diminished by a lack of sleep. Changing the way your immune system responds, sleep deficiency can lead to things such as an inability to fight infections.
Sleep and Brain Health
Sleep helps your brain form new pathways to enhance learning and memory. A good night’s sleep will enable you to learn new information while helping those parts of the brain that affect attention, decision making and creativity.
Research shows that sleep deficiency can make it more difficult to make decisions as well as control emotions and behavior. It has been closely linked to depression and suicide as well as some risk-taking behaviors.
Diagnosing Sleep Disorders
If you find you are not getting sufficient quality of sleep, you may have a sleep disorder. Today there are many devices and protocols to help deal with sleep disorders. At Vital Imaging, we offer sleep studies to help you and your doctor understand and diagnose your sleep functioning. Call us today at (305) 596-9992 to schedule your appointment.