Consequences of sleep deprivation

Serious insomnia is a serious condition and it can cause different physical and mental problems. You may suffer from mental distortions, exaggerated mental tendons and mind or hallucinations. Hallucinations can just be the beginning and sleep deprivation can kill you. Scientific studies on laboratory animals who were subjected to extreme sleep deprivation found that such animals die relatively swiftly of unknown causes. There is a rare genetic disease known as fatal familial insomnia that can cause severe insomnia and kill the patients.

Even though generally insomnia is not fatal, it can become a dangerous problem for you. Insomnia can result in different problems for you. For example,

Insomnia is an aggravating factor in case of people who suffer from fibromyalgia. It was also found that chronic low back pain patients also suffer from insomnia. It can lower or eliminate your migraine defenses. It can in fact be caused by insomnia. Insomnia can also make you. It is very strongly linked to metabolic syndrome. Insomnia is generally followed by periods of increased absenteeism from illness and disease. And the effect doesn’t go away immediately. It is prominent after two years after insomnia. Another scientific study found that people with even minor sleep problems get three times as many head colds.

Insomnia can also destroy your mood. About 40% of psychiatric mood disorders are preceded by insomnia. It can also cause other types of mood disorders. Insomnia can impair athletic performance.

Night owl type insomnia

Night owl type insomnia or delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) is a sleep problem that has a neurological cause and probably genetic roots. It is a common condition and about 10% of insomnia cases are actually DSPS. If you cannot get to sleep in the first place, you may have “night owl” insomnia. You find it very difficult to fall asleep until later. Night owl is a lifestyle and a preference and it is flexible but on the other hand DSPS is not a preference and it is not flexible.

Insomnia is a bad habit

Some insomnia may be caused by sleep disorders like DSPS, sleep apnea or narcolepsy. Sleep loss can be caused by pain of another medical condition like rheumatoid arthritis. But many cases of insomnia assassins because of a bad habit. It is a learned behavior and it can be aggravated into a crisis because of emotional stresses or due to medical problems. It is known as “behavioral insomnia.” If you suffer from this bad habit, you will have two learn how to sleep again. You will need to upgrade your sleep environment and change your behavior with behavioral conditioning.

Sleep environment upgrading

Sleep environment upgrading can be done very easily. If you sleeping in bright, noisy, stuffy bedroom and if your spouse or pets are making lots of unwanted sounds, nothing can help you. You need to have a sleep environment that is reasonably conducive to sleep and it is often seen that how easily such sleep environment improvement can be done.

You can cover your windows with blackout curtains. You can install soundproofing eggshell foam. You can also get some comfortable earplugs. You can get an air conditioner or a dehumidifier. You can buy the best mattress that money can buy.

References 1. Natural Insomnia Program
2. Insomnia
3. Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences