Disadvantages of staying up late at night
“There is no doubt that adequate duration and quality sleep is important to our health. — Peter Yau, MD, a pulmonologist at Scott & White Memorial Hospital.”
You may consider yourself as a night owl, but the truth of sleep deprivation is that it is harmful to your health to stay so late at night. So if you have been staying up late watching TV, reading articles on your mobile or trying to get things finished, it might be time to turn off the lights.
You are not only the sole person in this. Sleep deprivation in America is a real issue, which concerns more than just adolescents squeezing in college exams. Most people suffer a low quality of sleep and an insufficient amount of sleep. Besides, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that sleep insufficiency in America is now “epidemic.”
When you suffer from sleepless nights and continue to use caffeine to counteract them, your health may be worsening. Here are some areas where the lack of sleep takes on a toll.
1. Increased stress:
Deprivation of sleep leads to increased levels of cortisol, which is the same hormone produced through stress. Being deprived of sleep with either quality or quantity may raise the stress level. Do you feel stressed? Would you stay up late to get things accomplished, thinking you are going to have less stress? This turned out to have an inverse effect. This hormone can get you even more confused.
2. Problems it can create in the brain:
A study published in Neuroscience Journal showed that staying up for too long kills brain cells in rodents, and will do the same in humans. Scientists at Pennsylvania University placed mice on an irregular sleep pattern to see the impacts on the brain’s mechanisms. Researchers found that there was permanent damage to 25 percent of the locus coeruleus. This brain area is responsible for attention and cognitive thinking.
3. Unhealthy body issues:
Sleep deprivation will negatively impact our mental well-being, immune, endocrine, cardiac function, and overall performance rate. Sleep affects all walks of life. If we stay up all night, we may tend to binge on unhealthy foods, compromising our diet, and throwing away a healthy habit. When we struggle to get the correct amount of sleep, we may become ill more often, experience heart problems, or have anxiety or stress.
4. Weak performance:
You think you can work well late at night; maybe you need to think about it again. To remain late contributes to a lack of sleep, which can be detrimental when doing your daily activities. Your focus may get weaker, and performance declines. Sleep deprivation results in outcomes similar to being drunk.
5. Insufficient sleep:
A consequence of a lack of sleep can turn into an unhealthy sleep schedule. When you stay up late regularly, you can sense the need to sleep in, and thus throw off an entire period of sleep. Six to eight hours of good quality sleep are recommended for adults. Significant variation in bedtime and routine wake-up time can cause insomnia and hypersomnia.
The best thing to do now is to get into a regular sleep and wake-up routine. This will help your body get into a rhythm and be able to sleep and wake up with the best outcomes. Sleep impacts efficiency and relationships, as well as health in general. Talk to your doctor to know whether you are battling from lack of sleep due to coffee or if you are suffering from drowsiness.
This article helps you know the harmful effects of staying up late.
