How sleep deprivation can affect your memory power?
Sleep deprivation is one of the most common problems these days. The true meaning of sleep deprivation is the inability to sleep even if the person wants to sleep.
Usually, sleep deprivation is linked to insomnia which actually means habitual sleeplessness or being sleep deprived for a longer time. The Word “Insomnia” is famous among teens as a trending word these days. It is not a trend and usually sleep deprivation has its side effects in the long run. One must be alert and take quick action if one feel sleepless.
There are a lot of studies that show how sleep deprivation affects the brain and the degeneration of cognitive functions. It takes time to treat it. Treating it in the early stages will ensure that there is no negative impact on the brain. Yes, there are few days it becomes impossible to sleep but making it a habit can have serious implications on physical as well as mental health. One must visit the doctor as soon as they feel they are sleepless. Sleep deprivation doesn’t mean not having slept for the entire day but it means being deprived of quality sleep.
People normally think that sleep deprivation is all about not sleeping at all but what it actually means not able to have quality sleep. A sound sleep is the one where your body rests for six to seven hours without any disturbance or breaks in between. If you have disturbed sleep for thirteen hours it still means that you are sleep deprived.
There is a test called as sleep deprivation test that you can give to check your sleep cycle and patterns of sleeping. If you are having undisturbed sleep which is continuous and makes you feel fresh after waking up is the perfect type of sleep that you should be looking for. When you sleep all the body parts are at rest and also most importantly your brain is at rest. Yes, they say your brain works even in your sleep but what actually brain does when you are sleeping is repairing itself and repairs any damages if present. Technically your brain works when you sleep. Due to improper sleep the brain start feeling exhausted and cannot repair itself. There are a lot of hormones that released while you are sleeping and sleep deprivation causes hormonal imbalance.
INSOMNIA – THE SLEEPLESS LIFESTYLE
Insomnia is chronic sleeplessness that leads to serious mental health issues. Sleep and memory psychology are related. Insomnia has become a trend among the youth. What they do not understand is that it leads to degeneration of memory over time because they are not giving enough time for their brains to repair themselves.
Insomnia is a disease that many people tend to make in their lifestyle. If one asks how sleep deprivation affects memory power the answer is many ways that no one can imagine. Getting good sleep is very necessary for your brain and body to function normally. Sleep deprivation symptoms can be not able to have quality sleep, feeling stressed all the time and having frequent headaches or not being able to concentrate on simple tasks. Symptoms can be anything; the range cannot be defined because different bodies work differently. Unknowingly sleep deprivation becomes a lifestyle and getting out of the loop becomes extremely difficult in the later stages. There are a lot of home remedies that one can use to treat sleeplessness but if it is chronic sleeplessness one has to visit a doctor and get treated.
One may feel that it is unnecessary to take care of your sleep cycle. Studies have shown that sleeplessness causes a lot of serious health issues. The effects one can observe due to sleeplessness are
1. Depletion of memory: Sleep deprivation causes memory issues where one can tend to forget even the smallest things. This turns into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in the later stages. Sleep deprivation treatment becomes difficult after a point. These are the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. Sleep deprivation affects short term memory as well as long term memory.
2. Impacts negatively on decision making: The simple tasks that require concentration, decision making or simple thinking cannot be done by your brain because it is restless.
3. Mood swings: When sleep is deprived, the hormones are not properly released which makes a person extremely moody. Usually, sleep deprivation causes a bad mood and anger issues.
4. Immunity depletion: Since the brain repairs everything while asleep when you deprive it of sleep it stops repairing the damages which make your WBC’s to fight and causes immunity depletion.
5. Higher chance of diabetes: Our bodies produce insulin while we sleep and sleep deprivation causes in reducing the levels of insulin production. People who are sleep deprived are prone to type – 2 diabetes.
6. Sudden weight gain: When you sleep less, you automatically want to eat more because the brain needs energy to keep you awake. This automatically tilts the balance and keeps you wanting to indulge in high fat and high carb food.
7. Risk of heart diseases: There is a chemical imbalance in the body due to sleeplessness which leads to major heart diseases. Sleeplessness causes inflation and high levels of blood pressure which leads to deterioration of health.
8. Disturbance in overall balance: The balance and coordination are done by your brain subconsciously and depriving of sleep will lead to lack of coordination. Simple tasks like driving or walking will become a challenge after a point of time.
9. Lower levels of testosterone and estrogen levels: When you sleep your body maintains the levels of testosterone and estrogen. These hormones are released by the brain and are reduced in production when the brain does not get enough sleep.
10. Hallucinations: Sleep deprivation hallucinations are chronic sleep deprivation symptoms.
There are sleep deprivation stages one has to look for. You might start off with disturbed sleep cycle and then cutting down few hours of sleep then sleeping for less than three hours a day. If you are experiencing this type of sleep pattern you must fix it as soon as possible. There are adverse effects of sleep deprivation on students especially. Usually academics and busy schedules cut down the quality sleep of students. High stress and deadlines usually are challenging to students and causes mental imbalance. There are also cases of sleep deprivation death due to a lot of mental imbalance.
There are a lot of ways one can treat insomnia. Few of the things you can do to fix your sleep cycle is to maintain a schedule, maintain a healthy lifestyle, regular work outs, eating before bedtime so that hunger doesn’t break your sleep cycle, avoiding coffee, alcohol and nicotine. If you are using any medication for any problem, it might lead to sleeplessness and one must consult the doctor if they are facing this issue. If sleep deprivation is long term then one must visit a psychiatrist and get the solution for their problem as soon as possible.
HOW TO FIX MEMORY?
One of the chronic sleep deprivation symptoms is memory imbalance. There are few ways to fix your sleep schedule as well as restore your memory power. If you are a student, you can use memory techniques for studying so that you do not stay up long to memorize things. There are a lot of memorization tricks that you can find on the internet. It takes time to memorize things and giving it enough time will build your memory back eventually. One of the tips that students can use is taking small breaks after studying for some time. Playing memory-boosting games can also improve memory power.
Stress causes sleeplessness and getting rid of the stress is the only way. People with mental health issues also tend to be sleepless and must visit the concerned doctor and get proper medication. Once sleep deprivation becomes a habit it is very difficult to get rid of it. Treating sleep-related issues at an early stage is the only simple solution. One must go to a psychologist who will track down the cause and eradicate the problems from the root. Sleeping is the most important activity one does in a day and it must not be disturbed in any way.
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