Short on sleep? Even small amounts of lost rest can harm your mental and physical health. Photo / 123RF
Short on sleep? Even small amounts of lost rest can harm your mental and physical health. Photo / 123RF
How losing just 15 minutes of sleep can affect your health.
For many adults, sleep deprivation is a year-round problem that can affect both physical and mental health. Research suggests chronic poor sleep raises your risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and metabolic issues, andcan make you more prone to infections. Some long-term studies have also linked a lack of sleep to depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. Getting enough sleep, on the other hand, can reduce stress, sharpen attention and even bolster our immune systems.
You don’t need to miss out on a lot of sleep every night to experience negative health effects. If a person is consistently getting even 15 minutes less sleep than they need to function well, experts said, that can be considered sleep deprivation.
How common is sleep deprivation?
Ideally, adults should aim for seven to nine hours of sleep every night, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yet about one in three US adults logs less than seven hours of sleep a day. Studies suggest insufficient sleep has become more common in recent decades, in part because Americans work longer hours and spend more time on blue light-generating computers and phones that can affect their ability to sleep. Blue light, like the sun’s rays, sets off brain receptors designed to keep us awake.
“As we become more and more plugged in, this becomes more and more of an issue,” said Dr Charlene Gamaldo, a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Generally speaking, experts consider someone sleep-deprived if that person gets less sleep than needed or not enough quality sleep for several days a week over several months, Gamaldo said. Not sleeping enough within the ideal window for your biological clock – for most people, that’s between 11pm and 7am, but it can vary – can result in lower-quality rest, causing sleep deprivation, she said.
Certain medical conditions, including sleep apnoea and insomnia, can also lead to sleep deprivation.
Sleep needs vary, but most adults need between seven and nine hours nightly for optimal health. Photo / 123RF
What’s the difference between drowsiness and deprivation?
Without a medical evaluation, it can be tricky to distinguish sleep deprivation and some of its causes from plain sleepiness, experts said.
If you’ve just under-slept, you might feel like putting your head down on your desk at work or find yourself nodding off while watching television at night. You might feel more irritable, too. But this typically goes away after the next night of good sleep you have. An occasional night of poor sleep is not a cause for concern, Gamaldo said.
If you’re sleep-deprived, the need to sleep can feel more urgent. And a more prolonged lack of sleep can result in more severe consequences. You might have trouble with concentration and short-term memory, which affects work performance. Persistent irritability could lead to conflicts in relationships. You might also drift off more frequently or at risky moments, such as when driving.
One way to gauge whether you’re sleep-deprived is to tally up how much sleep you get on days you don’t have work or other responsibilities, such as over the weekend or while you’re on vacation, said Dr Eric Olson, a sleep specialist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (Sleeping in like this can be hard for some people, including parents, experts said.) That might give you a sense of how much sleep you really need, and whether your normal sleep schedule might be falling short.
If you’re sleeping enough but still feel chronically tired, a doctor might recommend a sleep test using an electroencephalogram, or EEG, to detect disruptions that might be affecting the quality of your sleep.
Chronic sleep deprivation raises the risk of mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Photo / 123RF
What can help?
It depends on what’s causing your poor sleep. For patients with insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy can help. People with sleep apnoea might benefit from using a CPAP machine, as well as exercising regularly and avoiding caffeine and alcohol.
Whatever the cause, experts recommended against using over-the-counter sleep aids, which might mask a person’s sleep problem rather than eliminate it.
Prescription sleeping pills can help people struggling with occasional sleeplessness, but they aren’t recommended for daily use, Olson said. He and other experts also warned against using benzodiazepines, which are sometimes prescribed for sleep but can be addictive, or relying on antihistamines to help you doze off.
Dr Sarah Lou Clever, an internist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, suggested starting with behavioural strategies. Trading the blue light of your cellphone for a book can help calm your brain instead of reactivating it at bedtime, she said. Stretching and light exercise before bed can improve both the quality and duration of sleep. Some research suggests meditation can help reduce symptoms of insomnia and fatigue.
Clever also advises patients to budget adequate time for sleep, but acknowledges even she finds it difficult.
“Sleep is one of those things that people need to prioritise for it to happen,” she said.
