Effects Of Sleep Deprivation

Sleep is an essential part of life. Without sleep, the body does not get the energy that it needs to function. Yet a large amount of people do not get anywhere near the amount of sleep they need. Whether it is because of medical reasons or because there just is not enough time in the day, sleep deprivation is a major problem in today's society. The many people who do not get enough sleep usually end up suffering the consequences. No good can come from not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation has many negative effects, most serious of which are a decline in proficiency in school or work, emotional irrationalness, medical maladies, and serious weight changes.

Sleep deprivation causes problems for people during the day. When a person does not get any sleep at night, they are obviously more likely to be sleepy during the day. Therefore, performance of everyday tasks, such as school and work, suffer. The brain does not work at full capacity without sleep, problem-solving and decision-making skills, concentration, and memory all begin to suffer. All the skills needed to learn or work properly begin to plummet. Once sleep deprivation begins it is hard to break the cycle. A person misses one good night of sleep and ends up falling asleep during work or school. Then on the next night, after being sleepy all day, it is hard for the person to fall asleep once again. The cycle keeps repeating like so. Grades are likely to drop when a person can not stay awake long enough to write down an example of a problem. In the workplace, a lack of sleep makes it harder to get tasks done and may even lead to lose of the job itself.

Not getting enough sleep can have serious effects on a person emotionally. Who would be in a good mood when they are tired? When the body tries to run on "fumes" it does not leave enough energy to keep a person in good mood. Things that normally do not make a difference, can really bug a person when they have not had enough sleep. It is easier to stop caring about the people or things going on when you do not have enough energy to really do anything about it. People are more likely to cry, yell, or act in some other irrational way. Other people, instead of reacting irrationally towards others, tend to respond in quite the opposite way. Sleep deprivation can turn some people lazy and apathetic, so they seem to be walking around in a daze. In some cases, a lack of sleep can even lead to depression or other serious mental ailments. These odd behaviors can also lead to relationship problems. People do not want their friends to be moody or short with them. So, in addition to being easily irritated, when you are sleep deprived you can end up making relationships with your friends turn bad.

Sleep deprivation does not only cause mental and emotional problems for people. There can be serious medical repercussions for those who do not sleep. First, when your body is busy searching for some kind of energy source to keep running, it puts less focus on other things. Immune systems suffer from sleep deprivation. When a person's immune system is not running