Sleep deprivation is something that is often overlooked as one of the greatest issues that we usually ignore. Sleep is often ignored as a basic essential, at the very least most people tend to take as little sleep as possible, this is a very serious matter and sleep should be a very important factor in healthy living. Now just in case you don’t know how bad sleep deprivation really affects you, I decided to write this article in order to stress how you shouldn’t just shrug off sleep deprivation.

Accident prone – When you are under the influence of sleep deprivation, you tend to get a little sloppy and end up making mistakes.  A lot of traffic accidents occur due to lack of sleep and even a lot of house accidents are due to sleep deprivation rather than other factors. You wouldn’t operate heavy machinery under the influence of anything, so why do you do things with your own body while you are sleep deprived?

Opening the doors to diseases – There are a ton of diseases waiting outside the door of sleep deprivation and believe me, you don’t want to open that door. Aside from the fact that a complete sleep cycle is important to your healthy living endeavors, sleep deprivation can lead to heart diseases, increased blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and much more. I don’t know about you but I’d rather avoid all of those as much as possible.

Sex drive killer – Yes, sleep deprivation does decrease libido. A few studies of sleep deprivation lead to show results of both men and women having noticeably lower libidos after a few nights of lacking sleep. A healthy sex drive is rather important for healthy living, while it is not everything in a healthy lifestyle, it is still a very important factor in people’s lives.

Depression can sneak in – Studies show that people with depression and anxiety tend to sleep less, in fact they are likely to sleep less than 6 hours a day. Insomnia one of the most well known sleep disorders has a very strong link to depression. People who are under the sleep deprivation are more likely to develop depression rather than those who have a full cycle of sleep and I’m not sure if you heard, but depression seriously takes a hit on any healthy living plans you may have.

Sleep deprivation make people more prone to stress which can lead to unhealthy and uncontrollable eating. A bad habit especially when you’re trying to venture into a clean eating lifestyle.

Skin problems – I know you don’t need me to tell you this, as the effects can be seen simply by looking into a mirror. Your skin becomes clammy, your eyes are prone to eye bags and the bloodshot eyes are always a nice clue to sleep deprivation. I’m sure you’ve experienced a few night’s of restlessness before an important event and for some reason you can’t seem to get your look right no matter what you do, jot that down to the lack of sleep and be ready for a rough day.

Motor skills and memory challenge – When a person is under a serious amount of sleep deprivation, their intelligence and memory functions tend to be less than ideal for most situations. A sleep deprived person is usually a leading factor in forgetful people’s memory loss, additionally further studies show that one’s intelligence takes a serious hit when you lack sleep as well. For better memory and cognitive functions, while supporting the healthy living lifestyle, get your full hours of sleep, you’ll notice the difference quite instantly.

Hunger pangs – If the list above is not enough to warn you about how bad sleep deprivation is for you, if you are trying to lose weight then you best be getting your full sleep cycle. There have been studies showing that lack of sleep leads to hunger more often during the day, and not to add more that but when you are also sleepy, you tend to make very poor choices with the food and snacks you opt to eat. So not only are you eating more when you are under the influence of sleep deprivation, you end up eating a lot of poor choices for your meals or snacks, not a good idea for healthy living. Just in case you are looking for clean eating snacks and if you do end up snacking due to sleep deprivation, it would be ideal to have some clean eating meals ready for snacks, read up on my other article: Clean eating on the go.

Death  – Whoa, that sounded scarier than I thought but yes, the lack of sleep could in fact lead to death. That’s as bad as it gets. Of course this is rather extreme and while sleep deprivation increases the risk of dying from various other causes such as accidents and diseases, I am being overly dramatic when I say that it will cause direct death, however one never knows with enough lack of sleep, well… let’s just say make sure you get a full night’s rest.

Less rest for your brain – The brain needs to rest on a daily basis, considering you use it for pretty much everything you do on a daily basis, the more rest you get the better it is for you. Now if you lack sleep and end up needing your brain, which chances are you do, well it won’t be at 100% if you are still lacking sleep. Did I mention you should not miss out on sleep?

Mood swings – Now this one doesn’t need much explanation, at one point or another you’ve tried to function under the influence of sleep deprivation and you might notice that you are a little moody to say the least. Well you can pretty much attribute it to the lack of sleep, especially since studies show that when you are lacking sleep you tend to get a lot of mood swings. Again the solution is simple: go to bed!

Stress can lead to depression and mood swings. These and far much worse can result from bad sleeping habits.

Impaired judgment – Lack of sleep leads to poor judgment, so if you need to use your judgment make sure you get a full night’s rest. When you are sleepless you tend to make poor decisions when sleepy, as you can tell with the hunger pangs, this is a very important factor. Make sure to get your hours in bed before any big decisions.

Well as you can see, sleep deprivation is pretty bad for you. There are a ton of reasons why you should take the whole cycle of sleep, again there are a number of reasons listed above that should convince you to hit the sack, however I am not forcing this on you, find out on your own, test the waters but trust me when I say that you really need to sleep. In order to keep up with your healthy living options or lifestyle, make sure that a full night’s rest is something that is on your list, move everything else aside from this, as it is non-negotiable for anyone who needs the basic functions of his or her brain, after all if you don’t get enough sleep you won’t be able to function properly.

For more tips and tricks to get healthy, please visit my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest pages. Stay healthy!