Sally JohnsonAccording to the recent scientific studies, most of us will experience sleep deprivation at some point in our lives. Sleep deprivation is the common term for an individual’s sleeping state which refers to the inadequate quality of sleep one has. When you get a continuous lack of sleep, this results in sleep debt in your accumulated hours of sleep that you’ve lost. We will talk about several causes for sleep deprivation today.
It is widely known that we need at least 7-9 hours of sleep per day. However, due to the fast-paced environment that we are in, the lack of sleep is now a common problem in modern society which is affecting many individuals at some point in their lives. In a seemingly 24/7 busybody community, have you stopped and ask yourself what causes sleep depravity?
Facts on Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation changes your brain’s normal function, such as the disruption of attention and your ability to focus on sensory input. This leads to poor memory, lack of energy, and your emotional well-being. Lack of sleep also plays a significant role in tragic accidents involving airplanes, ships, trains, and more commonly in vehicles.
The most vulnerable for sleep deprivation are children and young adults due to the changes in one’s hormones and lifestyle. A study has shown that the common reason why children and young adults are sleep deprived are due to hormonal time shift and early school start time; Hectic after-school schedule; and Leisure activities.
What Are The Causes for Sleep Deprivation?
The cause for sleep deprivation is multifactorial, which means there are many several different factors that play a role to cause the condition. The various factors that may cause you to get an inadequate quality of sleep include environmental, habitual, medical and psychological causes.
Poor Sleep Hygiene
Poor sleep hygiene refers to an individual’s disruptive habits which cause sleep loss. There are many daily activities that people do, such as drinking coffee late in the day or smoking cigarettes close to bedtime which stimulates the nervous system and makes sleep less likely. Another common problem is having using your gadgets hours before you hit the bed and other electronic devices which most likely to interrupt your sleep.
Personal obligations
Lack of sleep can be acquired through sleep debt due to personal obligations. Obligations that restrict sleep time are likely the culprit for your continuous sleepless nights. For instance, an individual may lose sleep while providing home care for a relative with a chronic illness. Another reason would be due to your family such as having a newborn baby.
Work
There are specific work environments that are more likely to disrupt natural sleep-wake cycles of the body and can cause sleep deprivation. People who have a job that involves shift work disrupt their sleep-wake cycles on a regular basis. Additionally, people that frequently travel by air tend to have irregular sleep patterns and often do not get enough sleep.
Being sleep deprived is common with adolescents since they have student workloads to do which is likely done late at night. The study commitments and school schedules of the young adults make it difficult to get the required amount of sleep which is why most of them are sleep deprived.
Sleep Disorder
Sleep apnea, snoring, and insomnia is one of the common sleep disorders that many people face. The most common among them, insomnia, is a condition involving difficulty sleeping at night that affects up to a third of the adult population and is associated with sleep deprivation. Symptoms for this sleep disorder are the following: daytime sleepiness, difficulty with concentration, memory and performing well at school or work.
Sleeping Environment
In some instances, sleep deprivation can be caused by the environment wherein an individual sleeps. An example of this would be a loud neighborhood, room temperature or sharing a bed with a partner that snores. Additionally, your bed could play a vital role in having a good night sleep since it is one of the key factors that would make you sleep comfortably.
There are many factors to consider in your sleeping environment, which is why it is important for you to have good equipment such as comfortable mattresses and beddings that would make you more comfortable. Do some research in regards to this matter so that it would help you with your sleep hygiene, the counting sheep research would surely be of help.
Takeaway
Medical Practitioners cannot stress enough how important sleep is to our body. Notice that when you go for check-up doctors would tell you to hit the bed early and have a proper sleep. This is mainly due to the fact that sleep helps your body restore itself from sicknesses.
Additionally, knowing the causes for sleep deprivation will now help you pinpoint the root cause of your sleepless night. However, nothing would change if you do not act and do something to attain healthy sleep through good sleep hygiene.
It would be wise to invest some time to take care of your health and find time to relax and enjoy the other aspects of life. Find a nice place to travel, go to the gym or join some yoga retreats and enrich your life by spending it to those who matters the most.
