By Milton Bertrand
You need to be very prudent with your sleep pattern. Sleeping is very important in order to stay healthy. Good sleep strengthens your body and mind. A chronic sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems.
- Pre-diabetic state
- Hunger feeling even if you've already eaten, which can be detrimental to your weight.
- Harm your brain by stopping new cell production
- Sleep deprivation is a major contributor to stress hormone
- Increase your blood pressure and a greater risk of heart disease
- Chronic diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis (MS), gastrointestinal tract disorders, kidney disease, and cancer
- Early aging by interfering with your growth hormone production. Such hormone is normally released by your pituitary gland during deep sleep and during certain types of exercise during high-intensity interval training.
- Frequent constipation
- Early death to any of the downsides mentioned
- Increase the risk of depression
- Abnormal behaviors in children
Lack of sleep can alter your gene expression. According to researchers, people who cut sleep from 7.5 to 6.5 hours a night have an increase in the expression of genes associated with inflammation, immune excitability, diabetes, cancer risk, stress and aggravate chronic pain. Here is a summary of the recommended sleep by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Sleep recommendation
- Newborns (0-3 months): Sleep range narrowed to 14-17 hours each day (previously it was 12-18)
- Infants (4-11 months): Sleep range widened two hours to 12-15 hours (previously it was 14-15)
- Toddlers (1-2 years): Sleep range widened by one hour to 11-14 hours (previously it was 12-14)
- Preschoolers (3-5): Sleep range widened by one hour to 10-13 hours (previously it was 11-13)
- School age children (6-13): Sleep range widened by one hour to 9-11 hours (previously it was 10-11)
- Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range widened by one hour to 8-10 hours (previously it was 8.5-9.5)
- Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours (new age category)
- Adults (26-64): Sleep range did not change and remains 7-9 hours
- Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours (new age category)