How Does Poor Sleep Quality Negatively Affect Your Health?

People nowadays have started to care more and more about health and wellness. And while most people have started to adopt better diets and have exercise routines, there’s more to being healthy than just dieting and exercising. Many of you may not know this but a lack of sleep, or poor-quality sleep has a slew of negative effects and can drastically affect your health. Aside from feeling tired the next day, regularly lacking sleep can have long-term repercussions on both your mind and body.

Now, we understand if you aren’t fully convinced of this as this may be the first time that you’re hearing of this. If you need more convincing, then we’ve got just the thing for you. Here are the most common negative health effects attached to poor sleep quality.

Fatigue is one of the most evident effects of poor sleep quality and sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep can make you feel tired and groggy for the entire day. This can make it rather difficult to get through your day. This is especially true for people with jobs that are physically taxing, as this will make doing their jobs significantly harder and more dangerous. This is why you’ll want to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, as failing to do so will put you in danger and will negatively affect how you function throughout the day. Being awake for 18 hours straight has the same effect on your driving ability as being over the legal blood alcohol limit in BC, even if you do not feel tired.

Aside from affecting your body and physical well-being, poor sleep quality can also affect how you function mentally. To be more specific, sleep deprivation negatively impacts your brain and makes it more difficult for you to remember things. This is doubly true for people who are more advanced in age as research has found that poor sleep quality prevents the brain of elderly people from storing memories. Deep sleep is when your brain categorizes and files the days activities away, and also when it links things together and solves problems.

Lack of sleep also makes it harder for people to concentrate. This can make it incredibly difficult to plan and organize things, which will make accomplishing tasks infinitely more difficult. Decision-making also becomes harder as you will tend to be more confused than usual. Due to this, it would be best that you ensure that you get enough sleep if you have a job that requires you to be alert and sharp.

Lastly, poor sleep quality and a lack of sleep can shorten your lifespan. Research conducted by the Penn State College of Medicine highlights the link between getting less than six hours of sleep to a shortened lifespan. In fact, people who slept less than six hours had an 83% greater risk of heart-related death than those who slept for more than six hours a night.

Hopefully, this article has helped shed some light on the negative effects attached to poor sleep quality. As you can see, failing to get enough sleep can and will be extremely detrimental to your health. If you have problems sleeping, we recommend that you go see a sleep specialist as soon as possible.

Get the quality sleep you deserve with the help of Sleep Better Live Better. We are a sleep clinic in North Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria that has helped thousands of patients find healthy sleep solutions. Book a consultation today!