Firstly, What is Sleep? Sleep is a state where the body, mind and consciousness is suspended and revitalized. Sleep is an integral and important part on which a healthy life is based. A lot of people deprive themselves of sleep either to carry out an assignment, fulfill a task, and meet certain demands or deadlines. If it is done once in a while, it can be ignored but when it becomes constant, it can be dangerous and harmful to the body. The minimum amount of sleep everyone should get in a day should be 7-9 hours because during sleep, your body re-energizes and restores its chemical balance. I will briefly highlights some harmful effects of lack of sleep.
- It debilitate and incapacitate the immune system- The immune system is fashioned in a way to protect and fight infection and once it not functioning well, it can be prone to attack. During sleep, our body releases cytokines that fights anti-bodies and protect us from infection. When sleep is not adequate, it makes the immune system weak there by leading to attack.
- It can affect the memory and brain- It can also make you lose focus and concentration. I remembered when i was in the university, some students having exams the next day will read overnight thereby doing a lot to prevent themselves from falling asleep by drinking coffee, putting their legs inside water and all sort and when they get to exam hall the next day, most of them go blank when the question papers are distributed. My own rule is to read but once sleep comes, i close my book and sleep.
- It causes moodiness and fatigue- Have you noticed that once you do not get enough sleep, you wake up the next day feeling moody, having headache, weak and giving any one that crosses your way attitude? That is because your body did not get enough sleep and this can be very harmful and dangerous to the body.
- It causes diabetes - Once sleep is not adequately gotten, the cells which produces insulin does not function properly, making the glucose level to rise thereby giving the risk to diabetes.
- It can lead to untimely death- Yes, it can also lead to death when it is very chronic and acute.
Let us do all we can to get enough sleep and rest well because when we deprive our body of sleep and it affects our health, we might not be able to carry out any other task. Remember health is wealth.
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