If you spend a night tossing and turning, you already know that you’ll feel it the next day—yawning, crankiness and an overall feeling of tiredness. What most people don’t realize is that missing out on the recommended 7–9 hours of sleep does more than just make you feel grumpy and groggy.

The long-term side effects of sleep deprivation are real.

Studies have found a significant correlation between sleep quality, depression and life quality. Apart from excessive daytime sleepiness, disturbed performance, concentration and productivity, sleep deprivation also affects your mental health and psychological state.

Despite the health consequences of chronic sleep, what’s most worrying is that nearly 40% of Americans are notoriously sleep deprived, and 50–70 million U.S. adults suffer from sleep disorders.

Sleep deprivation builds up with time, gradually wearing away at your quality of life. Reducing sleep by just two to three hours every night can have the following dramatic health consequences:

Risk of Obesity

Several experts have linked weight gain with insufficient sleep. In fact, a study found that people who slept less than 6 hours per night on a regular basis were likely to have excess body weight than those who slept the recommended amount.

What’s more, sleep deprivation affects babies as much as adults. A study found that babies who were “short sleepers” were likely to become obese later in childhood.

Risk of Diabetes

Studies showed that those who reported sleeping fewer than 5 hours every night had an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes.

Risk of Hypertension and Cardiovascular disease

A recent study has found that even modestly reduced sleep is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery calcification—a predictor of heart attack.

Moreover, there’s also growing evidence that there’s a strong connection between sleep apnea and cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, coronary heart disease and stroke.

Weakened Immune function

The relation between immune system and sleep has been well documented. Chronic sleep loss increases levels of inflammatory mediators, which in turn affects the amount and pattern of sleep.

A study compared the white blood cells counts in individuals with normal sleep/wake cycles with individuals with 29 hours of sleep deprivation. It found that acute sleep deprivation directly impacts the body’s immediate immune response, further increasing susceptibility to the common cold.

Therefore, sleep deprivation can affect your overall health, safety and quality of life.

If you’re looking for a sleep doctor in Alpine, Odessa, Big Spring, and Midland, Texas, area, book an appointment with Dr. John D. Bray today. He specializes in a wide-range of sleep disorders. His accredited sleep center helps patients improve their sleep patterns, and consequently, their quality of life.