Sleep is an integral part of the normal and healthy functioning of our body. Its main role is the restoration and “cleansing” of the entire body. In addition, sleep is necessary for normal mental activity and a comfortable psychological state, experts said on the channel “Clinic of Integral and Regenerative Medicine” (16+).
Lack of sleep is a serious problem due to which functions in our body are disrupted, which can trigger the emergence of many diseases. The most common are:
Cardiovascular diseases
The human body responds to insufficient sleep with increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, additional production of adrenaline and substances that can cause inflammatory processes. All these are factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases.
Emotional disturbance
After a sleepless night, a person feels lethargic, irritable and tired. And after several such nights, the nervous system becomes even more unstable; in the worst case, this can lead to depression or anxiety disorder.
Memory problems
During sleep, our brain actively processes the information received, storing it in short-term memory. Lack of sleep leads to disruption of these processes. Consequently, a person may even experience memory loss.
Weight gain
People who sleep less than 7-8 hours are prone to overeating and weight gain. Due to lack of sleep, the level of the satiety hormone, leptin, decreases, and the level of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, on the contrary, increases.
Premature aging
In the body experiencing constant chronic stress, the synthesis of cortisol increases. This hormone provokes increased sebum secretion, which causes early skin aging. Meanwhile, it is during sleep that the body actively produces hormones of youth and beauty: melatonin and growth hormone.
To prevent the development of such diseases, you should maintain a regular sleep schedule. However, it should be remembered that each age group has its own norm of sleep hours.
- Children under 3 years old – from 12 to 15 hours.
- Children ages 3 to 12 should sleep 10 to 12 hours a day.
- Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.
- Elderly people – from 7 to 8 hours.
