Introduction

Ah, sleep. You remember it, right? It’s what you’re supposed
to be doing when you’re lying in bed checking Facebook on
your phone or watching back-to-back episodes of House
Hunters International.
Sleep deprivation is so common and pervasive these days
that it’s now considered a public health epidemic, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But
how much sleep is enough? Researchers now have an
answer: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the
Sleep Research Society gathered a panel of 15 experts in
sleep medicine and research and concluded that seven
hours is the magic number when it comes to the minimum
amount of sleep adults need to stay healthy.
The problem is, nearly 30 percent of adults are sleeping less
than six hours per night, according to the CDC. But what
exactly happens to your body when you get less than six
hours of shut-eye? Is it that bad? In a word, yes.

Your Mental Capacities
“One of the most important things we have to remember is
that sleep is a function of the brain,” Shalini Paruthi, MD,
associate professor in the department of internal medicine
and pediatrics at Saint Louis University, and spokesperson
for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, tells Yahoo
Health. When you don’t get enough, the mental effects are
immediate. They range from having a harder time
concentrating and making decisions to having headaches
and struggling to remember things, which can impact your
life both personally (forgetting a friend’s birthday) and
professionally (blanking mid-presentation in front of your
boss).
Your ability to react quickly also slows down when you’re
exhausted — which results in making mistakes. “We first
lose our speed, and then we lose the accuracy,” notes
Paruthi. “There are multiple studies that show being
deprived — even if it’s four hours of sleep — can make
someone have the same reaction time as someone who is
driving under the influence. Driving while sleep-deprived is
the equivalent of driving drunk.”

Your Mood
And let’s not forget about mood. “Your ability to regulate
and control your emotions, as well as [cope] with change,
are affected,” she says. That’s a nice way of saying that
you’re more likely to be grouchy and irritable when you’re
short on sleep. Research shows that getting less than five
hours of sleep at night can make you feel more stressed,
sad, and angry.

Your Heart
One study involving 3,000 adults over the age of 45 found
that those who slept under six hours each night were nearly
twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack compared to
adults who logged six to eight hours per night, according to
the National Sleep Foundation. They were also 1.6 times
more likely to have congestive heart failure. Another small
study conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers found that not
getting enough shut-eye significantly raises blood pressure
at night
.
Your Blood Sugar Levels
Blood sugar levels are affected, too. In one study, healthy
men who were restricted to four hours of sleep six nights in
a row showed impaired glucose tolerance — a prediabetic
condition.

Your Immune System
Anyone who has ever gotten a cold shortly after pulling an
all-nighter knows that sleepless nights can also weaken your
immune system. A recent study found that people who
slumber for six hours or less at night are four times more
likely to catch a cold when exposed to the virus, compared
to those who sleep more than seven hours each night.
“People who are sleep deprived may not be able to mount
the same type of immune response as someone fully replete on their sleep,” says Paruthi.
Related: The Bad Habit That Makes You 4 Times More Likely
to Catch a Cold

Your Metabolism
Missing out on sleep may also be the reason your skinny
jeans are feeling a little tighter these days. Being just shy of
two hours of your usual amount sleep at night can slow
down your metabolism. And other research shows it can rev
up your appetite: A study published in the Journal of Sleep
Research found that just one night of not getting enough
sleep raises ghrelin levels — the hormone that signals
hunger to the brain.

Your Appearance
A lack of shut-eye also affects your appearance. There’s a
reason they call it beauty sleep: A 2013 study in the
appropriately named journal Sleep found that people rated
photos of sleep-deprived adults as looking less than their
best — with redder eyes, darker under-eye circles, and more fine lines and wrinkles — compared to photos of the same adults when they were well-rested. The study participants even went on to say that the adults in the photos looked sadder when they were sleep-deprived, than after a good night’s sleep.

Your Love Life
As if that weren’t enough, sleep deprivation can even mess
with your relationship. Couples have a harder time resolving conflicts and have more frequent and serious fights when they don’t get enough sleep, according to a 2013 study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

To be read later. TBRL.

Too long I'ma read this latter