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Insomnia and other sleep disorders don't discriminate - it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, what you do for a living, or how old you are - everyone can be afflicted.
What is a sleep disorder? The obvious answer is that it's anything that disrupts your sleep for a period of time. However, it's not really that simple; there are several types and they include getting too much sleep as well as not enough. There are the insomnias which are the most common complaints and the ones we're probably most familiar with; then there are the hypersomnias which have to do with getting too much sleep; and the parasomnias which are problems of partial awakening like sleepwalking, sleep apnea and night terrors. (Editors of Salem Press, 2008)
Insomnia is described as having trouble falling asleep in the first place, staying asleep once you get there, or both. It is the most common of all the sleep disorders and usually doesn't pose much of a problem if it's experienced only now and then; it's when it becomes a chronic situation that it can cause some serious trouble with your health. Insomnia, or any other sleep disorder, is considered to be chronic if it lasts three months or more, and this is when most people seek some kind of professional help. At this point, though, a lot of damage has been done to your health.
Although the reasons behind it are still being researched we know that sleep is needed for optimum health. The exact amount differs for each person, though most people need anywhere from six to eight hours a night. Without enough sleep your physical health as well as your mental faculties can be greatly impaired.
Mental Effects: Mood swings, ranging from depression to anger to euphoria, are common side effects of insomnia, as well as having difficulty keeping your mind focused and paying attention to what you're doing. The time it takes you to respond to someone or something is also increased, and that can have shocking effects depending on what you're doing. According to Eugenia Kolasinski in The Science of Sleep (2005), if you have more than one of these affects at a time certain tasks such as planning, reasoning, and making decisions can be devastatingly impaired.
Learning and memory formation are diminished when you experience a chronic sleep disorder. Besides having lapses in your memory, if you go without sleep it's much harder to learn something during the day and form any new memories from that day's experiences. (Yoo, Hu, Gujar, Jolesz, and Walker. 2007) The neurons in the brain need proteins to regenerate, proteins which are diminished without enough sleep. "Without those healthy neurons, new synapses may not be able to be formed thus limiting the amount of information a sleep deprived person can maintain". (Ledoux 2008) A good night's sleep allows your brain to prepare for what you'll learn during the next day; and then a good night's sleep that night allows your brain to form the memories of what you learned from that day.
The cerebral cortex, which is that folded up gray matter we all think of when we hear the word 'brain', is where all mental activities take place. In his paper The Science of Sleep, Eugene Kolasinski (2005) explains how the cerebral cortex needs needs stimulation from another structure in the brain called the Reticular Activating System. Without this stimulation the higher functions of the brain such as planning, structuring, and making decisions, are greatly diminished.
Physical Effects: Those of us with poor sleep patterns usually have a higher temperature during sleep than normal sleepers; and if you've ever experienced night sweats you know how disruptive this can be.
During sleep your body goes through a series of repair processes, building up muscle tissue that has been torn during a workout for example; it also restores neurotransmitters such as serotonin needed to keep the nervous system functioning properly. A loss of serotonin contributes to physical pain, which is seen in many people who don't get to the deep stages of sleep.
Prolonged sleep disorders can contribute to malnutrition and weight loss; however, Dr. James Maas (1999) says weight gain can be an effect as well. This is probably due to the decreased levels of Leptin produced in the body when you're not getting enough sleep. Leptin is the hormone that lets us know we've eaten enough for the time being. (Sleep Deprivation.com 2009) Maas (1999) also says that feeling chilled and experiencing reduced motor skills and coordination are physical effects of sleep deprivation.
Another hormone that's decreased with loss of sleep is the Human Growth Hormone. This helps us build muscle mass, thickens the skin, strengthens the bones and in general helps us stay feeling and looking younger. For those of us in mid-life experiencing these changes anyway, we definitely don't need any extra help from sleepless nights.
Insulin resistance is another major change that sleep deprivation causes in our body. With so many people experiencing one or more types of sleep disorders, this may explain why the number of cases of Type II diabetes has almost doubled in the last decade. (The Associated Press 2008) According the National Sleep Foundation (2009) about 40 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder; of those 23.6 million people in the U.S. were diagnosed with Type II diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 2009).
Because of the changes in our hormone levels when we go without sleep for long periods of time, sleep deprivation has been named as one of the leading culprits in cancer also (Mercola, Droege, 2004)
And in extreme cases of chronic sleep deprivation your personality can change drastically, and you can even experience hallucinations.
So we have mood swings, depression, anxiety, diminished learning and memory abilities, personality changes, and impaired decision making among other mental and emotional effects of losing sleep. Some of the physical effects you can experience are physical pain, higher body temperature at night, malnutrition, weight changes, feelings of being chilled, reduced coordination and motor skills, insulin resistance as well as other hormonal changes.
If you find yourself saying "I'm losing my mind" because you haven't had a good night's sleep in awhile, they're not just words - you really are losing your mind; not only that, your body is breaking down as well. That's pretty frightening.
Don't wait until it gets to the chronic stage when the damage has already been done; look for a solution that works for you right away. Reclaim your right to a good night's sleep.
References:
American Diabetes Association, (2009). All About Diabetes. American Diabetes Association. website: http://www.diabetes.org/about-diabetes.jsp?gclid=CJqz4v6B-5kCFWNM5QodSHYhFw
Editors of Salem Press (2008) Sleep Disorders. Magill's Medical Guide, 4th Rev. Ed.
Kolasinski, Eugenia (2005) The Science of Sleep; retrieved from ProQuest
Ledoux, Sarah (2008) The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior, Serendip. website: http://www.serendip.brynmawr.edu/exhange/node/1690
Maas, James (1999). Dangers of Sleep Deprivation. Power Sleep website:
http://www.powersleep.org/sleepdepr.htm
Mercola, Joseph with Droege, Rachael (2004) Is Insomnia Wreaking Havoc Upon Your Health, Mercola.com website: http://articles/mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/02/07/insomnia-health.aspx
National Sleep Foundation (2009). Sleep Facts and Stats. National Sleep Foundation website: http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/c.huIXK;MOIxF/b.2419253/k.7989/Sleep_Facts_and_Stats.htm
Sleep Deprivation.com, (2009) Sleep and Accelerated Aging, Sleep Deprivation website: http://www.sleep-deprivation.com/articles/effects-of-sleep-deprivation/accelerated aging.php
The Associated Press (2008). Diabetes rate doubles in U.S. in last 10 years. MSNBC website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27457618
Yoo, Seung-Schick, Hu, Peter T., Gujar, Ninad, Josesz, Ferenc A, and Walker, Matthew P.(2007) A Deficit In the Ability To Form New Human Memories Without Sleep; retrieved from ProQuest_1233434331
copyright Kate Lickey April 2009
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