Сonstant sleep deprivation
- Pages: 3
- Word count: 678
- Category: Sleep Deprivation
A limited time offer! Get a custom sample essay written according to your requirements urgent 3h delivery guaranteed
Order NowIf you’ve ever spent a night tossing and turning, or you went to bed late from studying or doing a project, you already know how you’ll feel the next day — tired, cranky, and out of sorts. Take it from me, a middle schooler, it’s not easy. But missing out on the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep does more than make you feel grumpy. It makes you sleep deprived, or lacking the amount of sleep you need to function. The long-term effects of sleep deprivation are real. It drains your mental abilities and puts your physical health at real risk. Symptoms: The main symptom of sleep deprivation is excessive daytime sleepiness, but there are also others. Sleep deprivation, whether it occurs over the short or long term, can lead to characteristic symptoms.
These symptoms may range from expected, such as daytime sleepiness, to somewhat more serious symptoms such as complaints of hallucinations, memory problems, and pain complaints. It may also result in decreased alertness or compromised daytime abilities. Major long-term health consequences such as obesity may happen too. No matter what you call it, the most common symptom of not getting enough sleep is what you probably expect: feeling sleepy. This might lead to a feeling of drowsiness or sleepiness, in which you have a strong desire to fall asleep. It might also lead to fatigue, a more deep-rooted sense of feeling run down. Fatigue is used to describe the sense of muscle weariness in which a mild discomfort may occur. As a result of fatigue, you will actually be able to fall asleep faster. People who fall asleep quickly are said to have a short sleep latency, which can be measured with the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). If you have ever found yourself experiencing different moods when you are not getting enough sleep, you would recognize the effects that sleep deprivation may have on mood. When we do not get enough sleep, we are more likely to have symptoms of irritability.
On the other hand, a good night’s sleep may put us in a great mood as we start our day (for some people). These mood changes may go beyond positive or negative attitudes into more serious problems, such as anxiety and depression. Many symptoms of depression overlap with those associated with sleep disorders. Problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may lead to nightmares and sleep loss. Your ability to be attentive to your surroundings requires a well-rested brain. When we are sleep deprived, we inevitably develop a subtle impairment in our ability to concentrate. This can be rather extreme, to the point that people who are sleep deprived begin to fail to recognize their level of damage. Studies have shown that chronic sleep restriction leads to cumulative deficits in our performance. For example, those who sleep less than 7 hours per night do not damage their performance and accumulate to levels comparable to those who are completely sleep deprived for one or even two nights.
There is no evidence to suggest that you can become adapted to sleep deprivation, however. Once you become impaired, you may not even realize it. Sleep deprivation also may lead to some unexpected psychiatric consequences. For example, some of the common psychiatric symptoms of sleep deprivation include disorientation, hallucinations, and paranoia. In general, people who are disoriented first lose track of time (mistaking the day, date, season, or year). Next, disoriented people may become confused about where they are. Finally, in the extremes of disorientation, someone may not know who they are. Hallucinations are a common sign of sleep deprivation, and they are typically visual in nature. Hallucinations are things you think you see but is actually not there. It is estimated that about 80% of people in the population will have hallucinations if sleep-deprived long enough. Finally, sleep deprivation may also lead to another psychiatric symptom: paranoia. Paranoia consists of a belief that you are being persecuted by some outside entity. These thoughts are not founded in reality.