Which of the following statements about sleep deprivation is false?

Which of the following statements about sleep deprivation is false?

So… which of the following statements about sleep deprivation is false?

  • Sleep deprivation can weaken the immune system.
  • Sleep deprivation can lead to mood swings and irritability.
  • Sleep deprivation can strain our relationships.
  • Sleep deprivation is the same thing as sleep deficiency.

Sleep deprivation is NOT the same thing as sleep deficiency

If that surprises you, you aren’t alone. The difference can help you figure out how to finally to start sleeping better. Sleep deprivation occurs when you don’t get enough sleep one night. Sleep deficiency is a pattern of not getting enough sleep over time.

Neither is good for you. Sleep is an essential need for our body to function correctly. If you pull an all-nighter for school or work, you might correct for that differently than you would correct for a pattern of not getting enough sleep over an extended period of time.

Missing sleep for a night or two can be corrected with the help of a simple sleep supplement like Sweet Dreams gummies.

Missing sleep every night for a long time means you need to make a lifestyle change.

If we could create lifestyle change with one blog post, we would be in a different business. Since we can’t, we’re going to take a closer look at the statements that are NOT false about sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation CAN weaken the immune system.

Viruses seem to have become more relevant in recent years. Can you really afford to weaken your immune system in a time where most are trying to strengthen their immune system to protect against the latest virus flying around?

If you’ve got kids, the answer is almost certainly no.

If you can’t afford to weaken your immune system, then you can’t afford sleep deprivation. Do your immune system a favor and catch some sweet dreams gummies instead of catching a cold.

What does sleep deprivation do to your immune system?

When we sleep our bodies produce a protein called cytokines. Cytokines are the little messengers that signal to your immune system that it needs to fight off invaders, and they also help to regulate your body’s inflammatory response.

Cytokines are important messengers for your immune system. Sleep deprivation can decrease production of cytokines. With less messengers signaling your immune system about where a response is needed to fight off an invader, your immune system can’t be as effective as it would be if you were properly rested and producing more cytokines.

You can learn more about cytokines from people far smarter than us: what are cytokines?

What's the next statement about sleep deprivation?

Sleep deprivation CAN lead to mood swings, irritability and other mental challenges

When you are sleep deprived your body’s stress response system becomes more active, which leads to the release of stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones are part of your defense response which can lead to anxiety and irritability.

In addition to that lovely ball of stress, sleep deprivation can affect the brain’s emotional regulation center. This can make it difficult to manage your emotions and can distort social cues.

Mood swings are just one issue that can arise from this combination of brain breakdowns. Increasing stress hormones, decreasing emotional regulation, oh yeah you’re running on low energy and now you’re body is more vulnerable to illness. This is not a recipe for good mental health.

This recipe isn’t even cooking yet! Sleep deprivation can also disrupt your body’s circadian rhythm. What does that do? That can decrease production of serotonin, which impacts every part of you.

Serotonin is involved in everything from emotions to motor skills. It literally helps you experience happiness. Why would you want to rob yourself of the very thing that helps you experience happiness?

Sleep deprivation is likely impacting your relationships at home and at work

Let’s take a quick inventory of our sleep deprived selves.

  • Low energy
  • Weakened immune system
  • Increased stress hormones
  • Decreased emotional regulation
  • Decreased happiness dust
Lack of sleep can damage your personal relationships. Leave the emotional baggage in your sweet dreams where it belongs.
Another unsuspecting person loaded up with emotional baggage from not getting enough sleep, ready to unleash it on the world.

Ok, now that you’ve got your emotional bags packed, good luck at work! I’m sure that baggage won’t cause you to have a frustrating day at work, snowballing into a frustrating evening at home.

Seriously, anyone walking into their day with that baggage is almost certain to have poor social interactions at work and at home.

Here’s a challenge. Find someone that is low energy, weak, stressed, unstable, and unhappy, and ask yourself if you’d like to take that person to dinner. Truth is, we don’t attract good uplifting interactions with others when we’re carrying that heavy emotional baggage into our day.

Much like a scene from the classic movie, “Office Space”, where the main character, Peter, asks his neighbor, Lawrence, if he wants to hangout. Lawrence responds with an emphatic, “Nah man. I don’t want you f****n up my life too.”, after overhearing how poorly things were going with Peter and his other friends.

Don’t be Peter. Leave the sleep deprivation baggage behind you where it belongs, get some sweet dreams, and watch those relationships in your life magically start to improve.

You can sleep when you’re retired, right? WRONG.

I get it, those late-night hours are the only time you can finally get some much needed ‘YOU’ time. Maybe you’ve got kids demanding every ounce of life you have from sun-up to sun-down, and that binge-watching after bedtime is precious.

Maybe you need those late hours to work on the rest of your to-do list. I’ve been there before. You’re just robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Oh you’re one of those “I can sleep when I die” types, right? If the information about sleep deprivation didn’t bother you, stay tuned for the blog post about sleep deficiency. That might get your attention.

Staying up late into the night can be tempting for many reasons, but it comes with trade-offs you simply can’t avoid. Reference the sleep deprivation baggage outlined above.

Sleep better, live better.

You may have noticed a particular point we’re trying to make – if you sleep better, you can live better. So many of us are willing to trade sleep for a short-term gain, not realizing some of the delayed costs. If life seems hard and you just want to feel a little better, start by having a serious look at your sleep habits and what it might take to improve your sleep.

Based on what we know about what sleep deprivation does to us, we can reasonably assume the following about what life might be like without it:

  • Improved energy
  • Stronger immune system
  • Decreased stress hormones
  • Improved emotional regulation
  • Increased happiness dust

Now if you don’t believe your life would get better if you traded that sleep deprivation baggage for this list of sunshine and happiness dust, your circumstances may require more professional-level help than a natural remedies brand blog post can provide.

If you are like millions of the rest of us, and you just want to get your sleep back on track, there are a few ways to go about that.

  1. STOP SCROLLING. That phone is not doing you any favors right before bed. Put it away, and leave it outside of your bedroom if you can.
  2. Exercise. If you haven’t been able to sleep well, try getting some exercise to make your body more tired and ready for sleep at bedtime.
  3. Dark and comfortable. Give yourself a dark and comfortable environment to promote sleep as much as possible.
  4. Sweet Dreams Gummies. A delicious, and perfectly-timed, treat with a little bit of melatonin and CBD to give yourself a reason to look forward to your bedtime routine.

Now get some sleep, and start feeling better today!

References

  1. Kalmbach, D. A., Anderson, J. R., & Drake, C. L. (2018). The impact of stress on sleep: Pathogenic sleep reactivity as a vulnerability to insomnia and circadian disorders. Journal of Sleep Research, 27(6), e12710.
  2. Gujar, N., McDonald, S. A., Nishida, M., & Walker, M. P. (2011). A role for REM sleep in recalibrating the sensitivity of the human brain to specific emotions. Cerebral Cortex, 21(1), 115–123.
  3. Yoo, S. S., Gujar, N., Hu, P., Jolesz, F. A., & Walker, M. P. (2007). The human emotional brain without sleep—a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Current Biology, 17(20), R877–R878.
  4. Durmer, J. S., & Dinges, D. F. (2005). Neurocognitive consequences of sleep deprivation. Seminars in Neurology, 25(1), 117–129.
  5. Saper, C. B., Scammell, T. E., & Lu, J. (2005). Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms. Nature, 437(7063), 1257–1263.
  6. Berger, M., & Gray, J. A. (1975). The effects of diazepam on the function of the central serotonergic system. Psychopharmacology, 44(1), 1–10.
  7. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation
  8. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/expert-answers/lack-of-sleep/faq-20057757#:~:text=During%20sleep%2C%20your%20immune%20system,production%20of%20these%20protective%20cytokines.
  9. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation
  10. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/24585-cytokines
  11. https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/serotonin#functions

Leave a Reply