While You’re Not Sleeping
People that are not getting a well-rested sleep on a regular basis are prone to many dangerous conditions. Even loss of an hours’ worth of sleep can increase the risk of a wide range of conditions. When we don’t get enough sleep, our immune system goes into overdrive which causes systemic inflammations and turns on dangerous genetic switches.
Some of the ways chronic lack of sleep can affect your health:
- Impaired alertness, cognition and headaches
- Vision problems including blurry vision, floppy eyelid, glaucoma, and even temp blindness
- High blood pressure
- Increased levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress
- Cancer- immune system needs O2 and rest
- Sexual dysfunction
- Increased food cravings and obesity- talk about ghrelin and leptin
- Type 2 diabetes
- Hearing loss
- Muscle weakness and decreased athletic performance
- Heart disease
- Skin problems and rashes including eczema- inflammation lowers immune
- Hair loss
