Sleep deprivation has devastating effects on an individual's health, both immediately and in the long run. Let us get to know them better.
When you don't get enough shut-eye, your memory may suffer. Lack of sleep prevents new memories from being filed away in the brain.
Sleep deprivation can also increase the accumulation of beta amyloid, a toxin linked to Alzheimer's disease, in the brain.
Beta amyloid, a potentially harmful protein, is washed away by the brain's sewage system as we sleep. Lack of sleep has been linked to an increase in Alzheimer's-related protein.
Sleep deprivation weakens the immune system, as many are aware. Four to five hours of sleep diminishes anti-cancer natural killer cells by seventy percent.
Lack of sleep can increase blood pressure, which can have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system of sleep-deprived individuals.
Lifelong risk of having a stroke or heart attack is increased by 200 percent if you average less than six hours of sleep per night.
In addition, the World Health Organization designated certain types of late shift work as a probable carcinogen in 2007 due to the disruption of the body's natural clock.