Why You Can’t Afford Not to Sleep

1. Insufficient sleep can lead to obesity. The lack of sleep puts your alters natural hormone levels, causing an increase in the ghrelin hormone, increasing your appetite and a decrease of the leptin hormone, which curbs your appetite.
2. People with a sleep disorder tend to have worse eating habits, due to the increased amount of cholesterol, protein, total fat and saturated fat in their diets.
3. It is likely that due to #2, people suffering from low quality of sleep are two and a half times more likely to have diabetes than a person getting seven hours of sleep per night.
4. Lack of sleep can lend to calcium build-up in your arteries, producing plaque that can cause heart attacks or stokes.
5. High blood pressure is another commonly linked heath concern for people with sleep apnea.
6. When the general public does not obtain at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night, the rate of auto accidents due to sleepy drivers increases.
7. Not getting a full night of sleep can put your whole body off balance, making insufficient sleep in the elderly even more dangerous.
8. Depression as well as low self-esteem, mental distress and alcohol use has been reported in adults that commonly have a lower quality of sleep.
9. Changes in mood, typically feelings of irritability, impatience and lack concentration can occur with proper sleep.
10. The brain cannot function fully while suffering from sleep deprivation, causing cognitive decline, worsening of vocabulary and reasoning skills.
11. Children with sleep disorders often have behavioral issues mirroring those of hyperactivity.
12. Needing your beauty sleep is true! People are seen generally as more healthy and attractive looking when well rested versus someone who slept very little.
13. A person sleeping less than five hours per night most nights have a fifteen percent greater risk of dying regardless of the cause.

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