The Health Impact Of Not Having Enough Sleep

Most of us are aware that we are less productive, less attentive and more stressed when we are tired. But when does sleep deprivation become really dangerous? Is there any long-term impact of sleep deprivation? 

The research tends to indicate that it is not the duration of actual work tasks that are increasing the risk of accidents by creating fatigue problems.In fact, it is the length of time awake and the adequacy of sleep that have the biggest impact at the workplace. Two studies (1,2) found that being awake for 17-19 hours brought about deterioration in performance equivalent to having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%. After being awake for 24-27 hours, the impairment in performance was the equivalent of a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1%!

Skimp on the shut-eye and you'll not only be sluggish the following day but you may be more at risk of gaining weight. Prevention magazine reported on the Nurses Health Study (3) which followed 68 000 women for 16 years. They found that women who slept just 5 hours a night were 32% more likely to gain 30-plus pounds during adulthood than those who got 7 hours sleep, even though the light sleepers typically ate less.

You may be wondering how sleep deprivation could possibly cause you to put on weight?

When you sleep your body produces large amounts of growth hormone. Your levels of growth hormone should actually be at their highest during sleep since growth hormone helps the repair of damaged tissue and helps to promote muscle growth during your slumber. Growth hormone gets the energy to do this by stimulating stored fat to be burnt while you are sleeping! The theory is if you don't get enough sleep your body doesn't get the time to do as much tissue repair. As a result your body doesn't require as much energy so you don't burn as much stored fat. 

A lot of times work and other circumstances will result in us having to forego our ideal slumber but knowing when sleep deprivation can become dangerous will help you know where to draw the line.

References

1) Dawson, D., Reid, K., (1997) Equating the performance impairment associated with sustained wakefulness and alcoholic intoxication, Center for Sleep Research, University of South Australia.

2) Williamson, A. et al (2000) Development of measures of fatigue: using an alcohol comparison to validate the effects of fatigue on performance, Consultant Report CR 189, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Canberra.

3) Yeager, S., 24 Hours to the Body of Your Dreams, Prevention.com, Dec 11,2006