Sleep is very essential to all of us. It gives us the time to relax our bodies after vigorous activities like work and school. We often hear from our parents or other people that a person requires eight hours of sleep. The 8-hour rule is indeed true for an average adult, though the required amount of sleep varies per age; as people get older, the number of hours required for sleep lessens. Looking at how infants tend to sleep all the time and adults sleep very late at night (and sometimes very early in the morning), we can see that the idea is true.
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Given how sleep is very important to a person, some of you might think, “What would happen if I don’t get enough sleep?” or “What would happen if I don’t sleep at all?” Well, let’s try to check the possible events or situations after a person does not get a right amount of sleep down below.
1. The brain cannot make new memories.
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The lack of sleep prevents your brain from creating new memories. According to Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California Berkeley and author of the book "Why We Sleep":
It’s almost as though without sleep, the memory inbox of the brain shuts down and you can’t commit new experiences to memory. So those new incoming informational emails are just bounced and you end up feeling as though you’re amnesic. You can’t essentially make and create those new memories.
2. A toxic protein in the brain increases.
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Beta-amyloid, a protein found in the brain, is often associated with Alzheimer’s disease. This protein accumulated during the day and only during the sleeping period the brain functions to clean these toxic proteins out. Without a sufficient amount of sleep, the amount of beta-amyloid increases in your brain which then increases your chances of getting dementia. Who knows? You might not remember this article later on.
3. Testosterone production increases.
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The lack of sleep also targets your reproductive system negatively. Studies show that men who are not getting the right amount of sleep have testosterone levels similar to that of men ten years older than them. This amount of testosterone levels will cause you to look older than your age and could even affect your productivity later on in life.
4. Immune system weakens.
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A high chance of getting cancer could be seen from those people who lack sleep. Natural killer cells, those immune cells that fight cancer, are produced during the time when people are asleep. With three hours lack of sleep from the regular eight hours, 70% of the natural killer cells are reduced. Thus, the lack of sleep is correlated to getting any forms of cancer. These cancers may vary, though the prominent ones are cancer of the bowel, prostate, and the breast.
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This not-so-good relation between sleep and cancer is seen as a threat that even a global organization such as the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the lack of sleep (nighttime shift work) a probable carcinogen. Jobs that require nighttime work is at higher risk of getting cancer.
5. Cardiovascular system does not function well.
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Sleep is the best way to lower your heart rate as heart rate drops during the time when you are asleep. This reboot in the cardiovascular system makes sleep the best remedy for your blood pressure problems. But without a good amount of sleep, a different scenario takes place. There clearly would be a rise in your blood pressure and heart rate. This will accompany a 200% increased chance of getting a heart attack and stroke. In worse cases, death might also follow.
Extra: How long can a person last without sleep?
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You might have seen the Guinness Book of World Records of the longest time a person is awake or your coworker working non-stop without sleep for two days in a row – and you start to wonder, “How long can an average person last without any sleep?”
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The answer might vary depending from person to person. However, according to scientists 16 hours is the limit of the human body. Past the 16th hour, damage to the health of your body, especially in the mental and physiological aspect, can be observed. These effects might include heavy hallucination, quick irritation and lethargy, and fast exhaustion. Scientists also point out that a person with over 19-20 hours of wakefulness, he or she can is comparable to someone who is drunk.
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To answer your question of how long can people last without sleep (before the health of the body is damaged), it would be 16 hours of wakefulness. And given that there are 24 hours in a day, we need at least 8 hours of sleep in order to heal any implication brought by wakefulness in the body.
Conclusion:
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Sleep is important. All people agree to that fact (though most people are still reading this article at late night hours). We might have disregarded this simple tip that we often hear but it would be best if we can follow it from time to time (since I know that all the time is almost impossible especially for working adults). After all, nothing will be lost following this rule. Anyways, I hope you have fun reading the article and good night!
