The Physical Impact of Sleep Deprivation
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In the previous blog post we talked about the importance of sleeping. In this post, we are going to discuss what happens to your body when you are sleep deprived.
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"How much sleep does a person need?"
Depends on the age. Newborns can sleep 16-18 hours a day, children need around 9.5 for optimal development, and adults can properly function with between 7-9 hours. At old age the amount of sleep needed increases a little, but it is more irregular, spread out throughout the day and night (lots-a-naps).
Sporadic Sleep Deficiency is Normal
If an individual does not get enough sleep for their age (in the case of adults, at least 7 hours), on any given day, for any reason, they are considered "sleep deficient". It is an umbrella term used to refer to anyone who does not get enough sleep, for any reason whatsoever. On any given day, 1/3 of Americans self report themselves as "lacking enough sleep"
That said, this is almost never diagnosed, because it is too common and can be fleeting. Many new parents with crying babies are sleep deficient, just as many college students who stayed up studying all night or had a few too many at a frat party. But for neither of these cases is a "diagnosis" necessary.
In fact, it is so common for sleep deficiency to be inexplicable that we have an idiom for it: "waking up on the wrong side of the bed" (here is a funny short video illustrating my point).
While a sleep deficiency does come with emotional, mental, and instinctual impairments... all of which will be discussed later in this blog post... the solution for a night of sleep deficiency is simple: keep going to bed earlier or more often until you get the sleep you need!
Not only does a simple good nights rest cures these short term symptoms, but even a cup of coffee or a Red Bull is enough to overcome most of the consequences of lack of sleep from one night.
How is Sleep Deprivation Different?
Sleep deprivation occurs when one goes without sleep for a sustained period of time. While it can refer to not getting enough sleep for many nights in a row, it more accurately refers to the condition of someone who has stayed awake for too long...remaining awake for 24, 36, 48 hours.
Every 12 hours the severity of the symptoms escalates. For example, by 72 hours, your cognitive abilities are so distorted that you begin to hallucinate and depersonalize. If you often fall asleep within 5 minutes of first lying down, or are prone to doze off while sitting in traffic, then you likely are experiencing some form of sleep deprivation.
However, what if you get only one or two hours of sleep... for a week straight?
Or a month?
Or a year?
When someone is not getting nearly enough sleep for many, many nights in a row, the precise term to use is "chronic sleep deprivation".
Due to their unique working environments drivers, industrial workers, and especially emergency responders are prone to this condition. Before we discuss how to treat sleep deprivation and promote healthier sleeping, we want to first cover the short and long term consequences of chronic sleep deprivation.
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The Danger of Chronic Sleep Deprivation
If you work with dangerous materials (ex: hazmat workers) or rush into dangerous situations (ex: firefighters), you know just how much your safety gear that protects you from physical dangers.
However, did you know that getting enough sleep acts like a protection system for your body? As stated earlier, it is one of the best things you can do for your physical health... and has widespread and dire physical consequences
Short-Term Physical Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Workers in physically demanding jobs, like construction or firefighting, need to be able to rely on their bodies. And while will power can overcome a lot of physical pain and weariness, the more you are chronically sleep deprived, the less and less reliable your physical abilities become. Workers suffering from chronic sleep deprivation will begin to experience:
Less Energy: First of all, lack of sleep = no rest = less energy.
Weak Muscles: On top of that, during sleep your muscles repair themselves; no sleep means weak muscles.
Easily Sick: Without sleep, your immune system is unable to create infection fighting substances (like antibodies) to fight off bacteria and viruses. This not only makes it easier to get sick, but also harder to get better when you do get sick.
Weight Gain: When you don't get enough sleep, your hormones get out of wack; your body has less leptin and releases a surge of ghrelin, causing your digestive system to not communicate well with your brain. The result: you feel more hungry more often, leading many to eat more than they normally would.
Digestive Issues: When you sleep, you reduce your metabolic rate, allowing you to conserve energy for the next days tasks. But if you don't sleep, your metabolic process is disrupted, which has shown to lead to oxidative stress, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. In other words, when you don't sleep, you don't process foods efficiently.
Low Sex Drive: Since sleep deprivation reduces proper hormone production, including testosterone and estrogen, many people who struggle to get enough sleep also experience a low libido and "problems in the bedroom".
Lingering Injuries: Inflammation is a method your body uses to fight off injury or disease, but if you aren't getting enough sleep, then your blood pressure remains day and night, which delays healing.
REMINDER: It is important to note that ALL of these symptoms and conditions begin when you are simply sleep deficient, but often at very small and low levels. But long term chronic sleep deprivation exaggerates the effects and makes these symptoms noticeable to even a casual observer.
Bottom line: when you are counting on your body, and everyone is counting on you, these physical symptoms increases the risk of injuries and accidents.
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Sleep Deprivation and Decision-Making Skills
On the one hand, you might think that all those physical manifestations due to lack of sleep are a worthwhile sacrifice. Maybe it costs you few more sick days and date nights, and maybe you get a little fatter and are more tired, but if that means you can continue performing your job, then who cares... right?
Well, everyone at your job cares. Because if the physical effects of sleep deprivation might take some time before it impacts job performance, chronic sleep deprivation has been proven to make you worse at reacting to situations, both instinctually and when making decisions.
When you sleep, your central nervous system forms new neural pathways. These are the "electric highways" that pass information from your brain to your body. Each night your brain takes stock of what you did and reinforces certain neural pathways. The stronger and more established they are, the better you remember and the faster and more sure your reaction time is.
Furthermore, when you wake up, your brain releases cortisol to wake you up to take on the day. But with chronic sleep deprivation, those cortisol levels are not only low, but are combined with muscle fatigue and low metabolism, making it much harder to stay alert and focused.
Which means... without sleep... the signals your brain sends to your limbs is delayed, or in plain english, your reactions are slower. And since your memory and focus are also fuzzy, your processing and decision making is also slower than it should be.
All this combined makes anyone suffering from chronic sleep deprivation a liability in dangerous and stressful situations. Many EMS jobs, positions in heavy industry, or workers handling harmful substances, require quick decisions can impact the safety of another. And lethargic worker who can't think straight even put the safety of everyone around them in jeopardy.
When on the job site, workers need to be able to think straight, evaluate situations properly, and make the best choices... even in high-stress situations. They need to assess a scenario, remember important details, and make a the right decision FAST. A small delay in our reaction can lead to serious outcomes, even determining whether someone survives or not.
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Chronic Health Risks
So far we have only mentioned the short term shortcomings of sleep deprivation. But if you continue to deprive yourself of sleep for months on end, you expose yourself to long-term health risks.
Studies have indicated that chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, strokes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Read those again... heart disease and cancer are THE killers in America. And having a stroke or alxheimers are two of the most tragic, heart-wrenching conditions you can be diagnosed with in old age.
But you want to hear the worst part? Not only does chronic sleep deprivation lead to these diseases and conditions, but you will get them DECADES earlier than you should. This reddit post tells of an individual that discovered they had irreparable brain damage, mostly from a lack fo sleeping.
Conclusion
Sleep deprivation affects physical health, resulting in a drop in performance. But it isn't just a short term problem. It can cause serious long-term health risks for firefighters. If we ignore the effects of poor sleep, it can build up over time. This can increase the chances of serious health issues.
