Consequences of lack of sleep

Sleeping the necessary hours and resting are almost as important for our health as following a good diet or practicing regular physical exercise.

According to the WHO, almost 40% of the world's population suffers from insomnia. In Spain we are not experts in sleeping well, more than 12 million people wake up with the feeling of not having had adequate rest.

A person does not sleep enough when it takes more than 15 minutes to fall asleep at night and if, upon waking up in the morning, he goes back to sleep a few minutes later. These are clear signs of inadequate night's rest. The same goes for the feeling of tiredness and daytime sleepiness.

The hours we sleep are useless if they are not of quality. If we stay asleep for 9 hours, but wake up several times during the night, we will not have respected the deep sleep phases and rest will be compromised.

Lack of sleep causes short-term problems such as fatigue, lack of concentration and memory, bad mood and irritability.

But what is most worrying are the long-term consequences.

What does it mean to sleep badly in the long term?

Real lack of sleep can lead to brain problems . Lack of sleep for several days can kill brain cells. By not resting, our brain fails to clean the proteins that form plaques that would cause diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia, preventing it from protecting us from them.

Not getting enough hours of sleep can cause an increase in blood pressure . The ideal is to have it below 120 mm Hg, but due to lack of sleep the systolic pressure can increase up to 132 mm Hg. This increases the risk of having a heart attack.

Theincrease in fat in our body is one of the consequences. According to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, sleeping less than five hours a day causes our body to have up to 15.5% less leptin, a hormone that makes us feel full and regulates the 'fat accumulation. which leads us to eat at strange times and increase the % of fat in our body.

People who sleep less than six hours a day are twice as likely to suffer from diabetes , regardless of their age or the type and amount of physical exercise they do. Sleeping well can help control blood sugar.

Lack of sleep can cause exhaustion, drowsiness or increased tension and this leads to a decrease in libido and less interest in sex .

To improve your sleep, you need to understand what's causing your lack of sleep, whether it's street noise or street lighting.

Our SLEEP vitamins are formulated with melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone responsible for regulating our body clock, and vitamin B6, which contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. They will help you fall asleep faster, have a more restful and deep sleep, wake up rested and renewed and, above all, avoid all these consequences that arise from inadequate rest.