In this article we will talk about the consequences of bad sleep, which unfortunately has become a habit of many adolescents and adults, in a world saturated with immediacy, stimulation and lack of patience, some basic needs, such as sleep, have changed.
At the same time, constant changes in working hours, changing ambient light and access to technology everywhere have made this custom more pronounced.
- The consequences of these changes occur at different levels.
- Such as cognitive.
- Emotional and biological.
- We have reached the point where new syndromes such as sleep insufficiency have been created.
- In this other care takes precedence over sleep.
Sleep is a fundamental physiological condition. This implies a decrease in alertness and awareness in order to develop processes of integration of brain activity and modify physiological processes in the body; it is governed by the circadian rhythm, according to which a state of wakefulness and a state of sleep alternate.
At the same time, it is important to note that there are two main stages of sleep that must always occur in the same order.
The first step is non-paradoxical sleep, in which there are no rapid eye movements and is divided into four phases:
Secondly, we have the REM sleep phase. This is characterized by the presence of rapid eye movements.
In this, muscle tone decreases and breathing and heart rhythms are irregular. It is time for sleep when the brain is most active and the most lucid dreams occur with a thread.
In research using brain imaging, an overall reduction in brain activity was found when sleep time is reduced.
However, it has been noted that the greatest decrease in this activity occurs in the prefrontal cortex and parietal lobe, this measurement has been performed especially with verbal activities, and it is thought that this is the consequence that the brain suffers when trying to stay awake and alert.
Today we know that sleep is essential to develop proper cognitive functioning during the day.
Studies have shown that a decrease of 1. 3 hours of sleep per day for one week results in a 32% reduction in alertness, which has an impact on physical and cognitive activities.
Memory and learning are aspects related to good sleep quality, it has been proven that during sleep the information we acquire during the day is consolidated, making it vital for learning.
For this reason, decreasing the amount of daily sleep will affect these functions. In research, we have found that different aspects of memory are related to different stages of sleep.
For example, consolidating and encoding new information in memory depends on REM sleep and the non-REM 2 phase, so not being able to complete all of these phases creates problems for memory consolidation, the effects can be transferred, for example, to academic performance.
At the same time, there is a relationship with learning new information, in this case, sleeping little decreases the activity of the hippocampus, a fundamental structure for memory coding, being also an obstacle to information retention.
Little sleep has been found to cause daytime sleepiness that directly affects a person’s attention, in this case the ability to monitor decreases, causing the person to lose or omit relevant elements to develop an activity in general.
At the same time, you find it difficult to stay focused on the same activity for a long time, add to this the increase in reaction time, problems such as a traffic accident or the loss of a test due to lack of time. .
In the case of little sleep, reaction times tend to increase considerably, at the same time, the person is more likely to make mistakes when performing the activities, so more time is needed to perform them, and even then may have problems to solve them correctly.
This affects several aspects of life, such as the academic part, as this can cause the person to not properly understand or do what is asked of him, problems can also be observed in automatic activities, such as driving, since the person may react late in a daily situation.
This is another important aspect that is observed when you get little sleep, it has been found that sleep deficit causes temporary mood swings, creating feelings of depression and anxiety in the person.
Similarly, little sleep affects our emotional intelligence and constructive thinking, this has consequences for several factors, such as intrapersonal functioning, little sleep reduces self-affirmation, independence and personal updating.
Second, it affects interpersonal functioning, which reduces empathy for others and the quality of relationships; there was a specific decrease in the ability to recognize emotional gestures related to joy and anger; as a result, the relationship with others is significantly affected.
Finally, there are problems properly managing stress, so the person has difficulty controlling some of their impulses, as well as a delay in activating the bonus system, which can increase stress in the development of certain situations.
Sleep has a very close relationship with physiological activities, being fundamental to regulating our cognitive, emotional and physical activity. Key systems include:
It is a disorder in which a person persistently does not get the amount and quality of night sleep necessary to maintain a good state of alertness during the day, its origin is not organic, lies in external factors, occurs mainly by a voluntary cause sleep restriction motivated by other competitive interests, such as having fun or working.
It usually occurs mainly in adolescents and young people of school age, in which frequent daytime sleepiness is observed, in addition to a feeling of non-restful sleep, we also see the need for outside help in the morning so as not to wake up too late: the mother or father act as a wake-up call.
Factors related to this syndrome include
Finally, it is important to emphasize the need to sleep a certain number of hours, as we have seen, not doing so has negative emotional, cognitive and physical consequences, so sleep is critical to our performance at different levels, such as physical ones. mentally.
Finally, it is important to think about the risks of not getting enough sleep, it is often better to prioritize sleep over other activities, in the long run our body will thank us.