5 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Lose Sleep

What happens if you don’t sleep?

Not getting enough sleep can lower your sex drive, weaken your immune system, cause thinking issues, and lead to weight gain.

When you don’t get enough sleep, you may also increase your risk of certain cancers, diabetes, and even car accidents.

If you find yourself part of this no-sleep category, you’re not the only one. Approximately 1 in 3 American adults isn’t getting enough sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

Here are the details of what happens to your body when you don’t log enough hours under the covers.

1. You get sick

Losing sleep can impair your body’s ability to fight off illness. This makes it easier to get sick.

Researchers even uncovered a reciprocal relationship between sleep and your immune system. You may lose additional sleep while your body fights off a bug if you get sick and haven’t had enough shut-eye.

2. Your heart suffers

Both short sleep durations (less than 5 hours per night) and long sleep durations (9 or more hours per night) have been shown to have a negative impact on heart health, according to an analysis published in the European Heart Journal.

In particular, your chances of developing coronary heart disease or having a stroke are greatly increased with less sleep.

3. Your cancer risk increases

Shortened sleep is associated with higher rates of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer, according to the AASM’s sleep statement.

Overnight shift workers may take the brunt of this burden. The good news is that both men and women who slept 7 or more hours per night had the best mortality rates in the group.

4. You can’t think

Even missing one night of sleep can lead to some major cognition (thinking) issues.

In a study published by Experimental Brain Research, a group of 18 men were given a task to complete. The first task was completed following a full night’s sleep. The next task was completed after skipping a night of sleep.

Brain functions including memory, decision-making, reasoning, and problem-solving worsened, along with reaction time and alertness.

5. You forget stuff

Not only can missed sleep make you more forgetful, there’s also a growing body of research indicating that sleep has an impact on learning and memory.

Researchers suggest that sleep is critical to the process of consolidating the things we learn in the brain. In other words, we need proper rest to lock in new information and commit it to memory.

More than beauty rest

Getting enough sleep isn’t just for your vanity. It could save your life.

Take some time to consider all you’re risking before you continue that late-night TV marathon. Then, turn out the lights and enjoy your 7 to 8 hours of beauty — and health — rest.