We understand by now that getting enough sleep is essential to our overall health. How could we not? There has been a steady stream of media warnings on improving sleep to decrease risk for obesity, diseases and death; especially for our children. Many factors are hurting their potential of becoming better educated, functionable, happy, healthy adults including chronic lack of sleep. Unfortunately, the sleep recommendations for children and adults are very much affected by the demands of modern culture and technology. The average family now has two working parents that struggle to fit everything into days that start way too early and nights left with so much to do. Yet, professionals advise that by leading structured healthy lifestyles, we can do it all. This includes getting enough sleep to provides the benefits of less stress, greater focus and more energy instead of suffering from chronic lack of sleep that has very serious long term health risks:
5 Long Term Health Risks of Not Getting Enough Sleep (Children & Adults)
Obesity
Starting the day tired and groggy means you are less likely to make the best decisions about your health. When you feel exhausted, it is easier to order a pizza or put a frozen dinner in the microwave than it is to take the time and effort to create a healthy and balanced meal. Likewise, feeling tired means you are less likely to hit the gym or go on your morning run. It should be no surprise then that lack of sleep has been linked to higher rates of obesity.
Aging
Until the fountain of youth is discovered, adequate sleep will remain one of our best ways of staving off some of the worst effects of aging. Sleep is rejuvenating; it reduces stress and keeps us healthy, which is likely why a lack of sleep has been linked to advanced aging. Not getting enough sleep, for example, can lead to faster skin aging and even permanent damage to brain cells.
Heart Disease and Stroke
One of the most obvious short-term effects of sleep loss is stress. Simply put, when we don't get enough sleep, we are more likely to go through our day feeling "on edge." Stress is not just an unpleasant feeling, it also leads to some serious long-term health risks, namely heart disease and stroke. Getting an extra hour of sleep each night won't just calm your nerves, it will also reduce your risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke later in life.
Disability
Because sleep loss has such serious health risks, it should come as no surprise that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to suffer a health problem that leads to a long-term disability. Most immediately, lack of sleep means you are more likely to make mistakes and, if you're performing a dangerous task that requires your complete attention (such as operating a motor vehicle), then a single mistake could be dire. Alternatively, diseases associated with sleep loss, including strokes and cancer, could lead to a lifelong disability that makes it difficult to earn a living or maintain a decent quality of life.
Death
If the above reasons aren't enough motivation for getting enough sleep, perhaps the fact that sleep loss has been linked to premature death will be. Especially in men, lack of sleep has been linked to a shorter lifespan. Most of us want to be around long enough to see our children grow up, reach retirement, and take part in all of life's moments, both big and small. Just an extra hour of sleep per night may be what ultimately adds years to your life.
What About Quality of Sleep?
We need a certain amount of sleep each night and this should be easy for most of us, right?
NO! It is actually getting harder to avoid the long term health risks of not getting enough sleep:
The solution is not as simple as it used to be; fixing a vitamin / mineral deficiency, exercise or getting a new mattress. There are many different factors contributing to why chronic lack of sleep is an issue at particular ages and this is not as easily defined by the very same sleep experts sharing information that is supposed to help.
For example:
Sometimes, our biological clocks don't work with the expectations of the fast paced 9 to 5 lifestyle and heavily technical world: This is especially true starting as pre-teens and teenagers:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/from/sleep.html
Another contributing factor is how we all adapt to changes in our specific cultures:
"Despite ample evidence of the associations between lifestyle health behaviors and sleep quality, a comprehensive understanding of the causal relationships may be difficult to achieve. Lifestyle, technology and health behaviors including sleep are all intertwined and strongly embedded in the cultural and social environment." *
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3630968/
- 50-70 million US adults have sleep or wakefulness disorder.
This means that you are included in broken sleep even if your problem is just because your significant other keeps you up with snoring.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6008.pdf
Suffering From Sleep Deprivation / Insomnia / Broken Sleep / Anxiety / Obesity?
I could go on and on with sources about how food, technology, sexual function and more are contributing to this sleep disease epidemic, but the fact at matter is that you understand that you (or your loved one) is not alone, as well as what the 5 long term health risks of not getting enough sleep are AND how it is up to you to get help to change this chronic sleep deprivation problem in your life.
If you would like to discuss more, please feel free to comment below or you can ADD ME as a friend on Facebook and then message me to join our weight loss support group. You can also check out the product details of our HiBurn8 Night Time Formula to see if this is an option for you.
Thanks so much for following and reading along! Please never hesitate to let me know if there is anything that I can research and write about specifically to help in your weight loss journey!
Blessings To You,
Lea
