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What are the consequences of not getting enough sleep? We spend approximately 1/3 of every day sleeping. One third of every day working. Also  1/3 of the day getting too and from work and looking after personal things that are going on in our lives. Quite often work takes longer. We don’t want to or cannot give up some of our personal stuff. So what happens is that we squeeze the time we have left to sleep. When we do not sleep, whether it is for the reason above, health issues or we just cannot get to sleep, we suffer in multiple ways.

Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep

Here is a list of what can potentially happen when we do not get enough sleep:

• We tend to eat more food and especially snacks
• You will gain weight from all of those snacks and reduced activity
• You may not live as long if you get less than 5 hours a night
• Chronic sleep loss contributes to brain shrinkage
• Your blood pressure can increase
• You are more susceptible to colds and getting sick
• You may also experience memory loss
• Being tired, you tend to skip exercise
• People who miss their sleep tend to be more cranky
• You are not as alert and with it

We tend to eat more food and especially snacks to make up for energy that we need to get through the day and our coffee intake goes way up as well to help us get through the day.

You will gain weight from all of those snacks and reduced activity and this is weight that is difficult to reduce once it is on because we simply do not have the energy to exercise and work it off.

You may not live as long if you get less than 5 hours a night. Based  on studies that have been conducted, people who are sleep deprived on a chronic level tend not to live as long for a variety of reasons. Some are accident related due to lack of concentration while others just get sick more often and it eventually catches up with them.

Brain Shrinkage

Chronic sleep loss contributes to brain shrinkage or less dense brains which impacts memory retention and decision making abilities.

Your blood pressure can increase as much as 40% which is a significant problem if your family history is prone to strokes and other heart related diseases.

You are more susceptible to colds and getting sick when you are run down. The body just does not have the strength to fight viruses off and we end up being sick much more often.

You may also experience memory loss, both short term and long term memory which makes us far less productive in our daily lives.

Being tired, you tend to skip exercise which contributes to weight gain even more.

People who miss their sleep tend to be more cranky and grouchy. We are more short tempered and have a lot less patience for ourselves as well as others. This can hurt our social relationships a great deal.

You are not as alert and with it when you are sleep deprived. As a result more people with this condition are prone to accidents, falling asleep at work and other problems which can lead to very serious accidents causing bodily harm and even death.

What Can a Person Do to Get More Sleep

Several of our previous posts have outlined a number of steps that people can consider to get more sleep. There also could be an underlying health issue such as sleep apnea. Which we have also written about that affects many people and contributes to all of the above problems previously mentioned. If you have eliminated all of the non health reasons that may be affecting your sleep, see a doctor. He or she will assess health issues that could cause this. Sleep Apnea is only one condition that could cause this problem.

We are writing posts like these because we know that diet and weight gain can be caused by many different conditions and we want to make people aware of the consequences of not getting enough sleep and what they can do about it. We also feel that many people have sleep apnea and do not know about it. As a result they suffer daily from lack of sleep and are potentially prone to heart attacks and strokes as a result. Have your condition checked by a doctor to see if there is any underlying cause for your lack of sleep.

For more information about the Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep and other sleep issues, click here.

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