10 psychological signs of sleep deprivation

Sleep literally recharges our batteries. We go to bed tired at night and wake up refreshed and relaxed. When we don’t get enough sleep, or sleep poorly, we start to feel the effects almost immediately; we wake up tired, we have no energy, we are irritable. Did you know that there are also other, more subtle signs of poor sleep quality?

When you don’t sleep well for an extended period of time, you can start to have serious problems. According to experts, chronic sleep deprivation can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and depression, among other health problems.

The 10 psychological signs of not getting enough sleep.

1. You’re (more) impulsive (than usual).

“I love to sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.” – Ernest Hemingway

People tend to act impulsively and make bad decisions when they are exhausted. You may find yourself bingeing on sweets or doing or saying things you don’t mean, or yelling at a spouse or co-worker, because you are less inhibited.

2. Your memory suffers

Can’t remember where you left your house keys? It’s probably because you’ve had too little sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is extremely important for long-term brain health. A study in mice showed that sleep helps remove toxic molecules from the brain. Experts suggest that not getting enough sleep or sleeping poorly on a regular basis could impair your brain’s ability to maintain a clean nervous system.

3. You are always hungry

When your brain doesn’t get the energy it needs from sleep, it looks elsewhere, and food is a natural choice. You’ve noticed cravings for fatty foods or sweets when you haven’t slept well.

Poor sleep causes an increase in the hunger hormone ghrelin and leptin, the satiety hormone. When you don’t sleep well, you tend to overeat because you don’t feel the satiety signals. This, in turn, leads to weight gain.

4. You are experiencing motor skill problems

If you stumble or tip things over throughout the day, the reason could be poor sleep. When you are tired, you experience a breakdown in your neurological functions. Your reactions are slower and your concentration is also limited, causing you to have difficulty moving.

5. Your emotions are out of control

You may feel that your emotions are out of control when you are sleep deprived. You overreact to certain emotional stimuli, such as a sad movie or an important work deadline.

6. You have trouble making decisions

If you find it more difficult than usual to manage projects at work or at home, lack of sleep may be to blame. Lack of sleep can affect high-levelcognitive processing and speed, making essential functions such as time management or problem solving even more difficult to perform.

7. Vision problems

If you’re exhausted, you can’t control your eye muscles as well. Poor sleep can damage the ciliary muscle, which helps the eyes focus. For example, you find it more difficult to read up close. You may also experience extraocular muscle deterioration with prolonged sleep deprivation, which moves the eye from side to side and up and down.

8. You break out in flare-ups

Lack of quality sleep disrupts hormonal balance and increases circulating estrogen levels. You get more breakouts and your skin may start to look older. Over time, you will begin to notice excess wrinkles due to the decrease in collagen, which the body produces while you sleep.

9. You are constantly sick

Another thing that can suffer with poor sleep is your immune system. There can be serious problems if you are not sleeping properly in terms of your body’s ability to fight infections. More specifically, you’ll have a harder time getting rid of colds.

One reason could be that your immune system produces cytokines while you sleep – proteins that help ward off infections and inflammation. Chronic poor sleep could lower your body’s defenses against viruses and end up causing immune system diseases.

10. You nod off

Nodding off is an obvious sign of lack of sleep: it can occur for a few seconds without you even realizing it. Also known as microsleep, it’s your body’s way of forcing you to get the sleep you need. Basically, your brain shuts down. This can be a big problem if you operate dangerous machinery or drive.