Slows down brain activity

Memory

• Sleep is essential for memory consolidation. The reason you’re able to remember more things in the morning than at night is simply because you were sleeping while your brain was replaying everything that happened during the day.
• Sleep deprivation can affect your ability to learn new things. Your hippocampus, which is responsible for forming memories, needs rest so that it can process information and file it away properly. As a result, if you don’t get enough sleep, it becomes harder for your brain to absorb new information. In fact, researchers have found that people who are sleep deprived have trouble recalling facts from their lessons when they’re tested on them later!
• Sleep deprivation can affect your ability to remember things you’ve already learned. Research shows that if someone doesn’t get enough sleep one night (about six hours), then their performance will be impaired even after getting an appropriate amount of rest the following day—and this effect lasts up to three days!

Affects your mood

When you don’t sleep enough, it can affect your mood and make you feel depressed. Lack of sleep can also cause anxiety and anger, which can have a negative impact on your relationships with others. Additionally, lack of sleep can increase the risk of suicide and other mental health issues. Sleep deprivation has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and stroke. It has also been shown to increase blood pressure levels while decreasing good cholesterol levels in the body.

Physical health impacts

Another way a lack of sleep may affect your mental health is by making you more susceptible to illness. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can make people more likely to catch colds and other illnesses, which can lead to a variety of other problems.

In addition to making it easier for you to get sick, insufficient sleep may also cause weight gain or make it harder for you to lose weight. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s “Sleep Health Basics” brochure on sleep and weight management, “Research has shown that individuals who routinely do not get enough sleep are at increased risk for obesity [and] weight gain.” The brochure recommends getting seven hours of quality sleep per night as part of an overall plan for maintaining healthy body weight.

It’s also important to note that insufficient sleep can affect your metabolism—or how fast your body burns calories—regardless of whether you’re overweight or underweight (Rosenthal & Giesbrecht 2010). In one study conducted by Rosenthal & Giesbrecht (2010), researchers found that people slept better when they slept through the night than when they napped during the day because napping affects our internal biological clock; in turn, this impacts our metabolism as well as our ability handle stressors throughout the day

Decreases your sex drive and relationships

• Decreases your sex drive and relationships

When you’re tired, you may find yourself less interested in sex. A University of Chicago study found that people who slept fewer than five hours a night reported feeling significantly less sexual desire than those who got more sleep. That’s because lack of sleep affects the “reward center” of our brain—the place where we feel pleasure and satisfaction—and it has been shown to reduce levels of testosterone and estrogen, two hormones that play an important role in libido. Additionally, being too tired can make you irritate others around you and make your relationships more challenging—you’re likely to be moodier when you don’t get enough rest than when you do.

There’s a cycle to it.

When you don’t get enough sleep, your body enters a state of stress. Sleep deprivation can lead to anxiety and depression. You become more irritable and angry. You have less patience for other people’s mistakes, which in turn makes them angry too. It’s like the world is falling apart around you, and all because of something as simple as not getting enough sleep!

The cycle continues: if someone has been irritable with you lately, it could be because they haven’t been sleeping well either—or at least not nearly enough hours per night. If they’re cranky when they come home from work every day (and let’s face it—we’ve all been there), that could cause problems at home too: fights aren’t uncommon after a long day at work when our energy levels are lower than usual due to lack of adequate restful sleep patterns during overnight hours spent tossing and turning until morning comes around again…

Inadequate sleep can have an impact on almost every area of
life.

Sleep is important for mental health. Insufficient sleep has been linked to anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. In fact, one study found that getting fewer than six hours of sleep a night was associated with an 83% increased risk of depression. This link may be due to the fact that lack of sleep can disrupt hormones that regulate moods like serotonin, which affects feelings of happiness and well-being (as well as appetite).

Sleep deprivation can also cause weight gain—and not just because it causes you to eat more! Studies show that people who get less than seven hours per night have lower levels of leptin—a hormone that tells your body when it’s full so you stop eating—than people who get seven or more hours per night; this makes them feel hungrier all day long. That extra hunger means they’re likely to consume more calories than they would if their bodies were better nourished by quality sleep time!

In addition to its effects on moods and appetite control, inadequate sleep also puts us at risk for serious health consequences like heart disease and diabetes thanks to high blood pressure caused by stress hormones released during periods without adequate restorative rest time needed for repair work done throughout our bodies during deep REM cycles at night (REM = rapid eye movement).

Now that you know how important sleep is for your mental and physical wellbeing, you can make a conscious decision to prioritize it in your life. Whether that means setting an alarm so you wake up earlier, cutting back on caffeine after 4 pm, or buying yourself a comfortable mattress and pillow. Don’t worry about the small things like missing out on sleepovers with friends or not being able to party all night- just focus on getting enough rest so that when morning comes around again everything will be okay.

References

Lack of sleep can lead to increased levels of anger and aggression, anxiety and distress, slower thought processes, and a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia[1][2][3][4][5].

1. How Does Lack of Sleep Affect Mental Health? -Verywell Mind

https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sleep-affects-mental-health-4783067

Research finds that lack of sleep can lead to increased levels of anger and aggression. This is because when sleep-deprived, the brain cannot function normally, which means it can’t suppress the reactivity of the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain). 6. We’re more likely to feel irritable and less likely to feel in control of our …

2. How Sleep Deprivation Impacts Mental Health | Columbia University …

https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-mental-health

Sleep deprivation studies show that otherwise healthy people can experience increased anxiety and distress levels following poor sleep. Those with mental health disorders are even more likely to experience chronic sleep problems and, in turn, these sleep problems are likely to exacerbate psychiatric symptoms and even increase risk for suicide.

3. Lack of Sleep Disrupts Brain’s Emotional Controls

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lack-sleep-disrupts-brains-emotional-controls

Now scientists have uncovered some of the first evidence of how this occurs. Their imaging studies show that lack of sleep can lead to greater activation of the brain’s emotional centers and disrupt the brain circuits that tame emotional responses. Adequate sleep is essential to good health, yet many Americans don’t get enough.

4. What Lack of Sleep Does to Your Mind – WebMD

https://www.webmd.com/sleepdisorders/features/emotions-cognitive

1. Sleepiness slows down your thought processes. Scientists measuring sleepiness have found that sleep deprivation leads to lower alertness and concentration. It’s more difficult to focus and …

5. How Does Lack of Sleep Effect Cognitive Impairment … – Sleep Foundation

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation/lack-of-sleep-and-cognitive-impairment

The short-term implications of poor sleep on the brain and cognition can be the result of simply pulling an all-nighter, while those with chronic sleep problems may see their day-to-day tasks affected. Over the long-term, however, poor sleep may put someone at a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia.