what are the effects of less than 4 hours of sleep?
Sources:
Sleep deprivation, even for a single night with less than four hours of sleep, affects the entire brain and can have a range of negative effects on different systems. Some of these effects include:
- Impairment in cognitive function, making people irritable and causing visual hallucinations 1.
- Disruption of REM sleep, which is crucial for emotional processing, leading to problems like inability to uncouple emotion from past events and turning minor irritants into major issues 2.
- Impact on physical and mental health due to alterations in autonomic function, leading to increased heart rate, decreased heart rate variability, and increased insulin resistance, even when sleeping in a moderately lit room 3.
- Association with mood disorders such as depression; sleep deprivation can temporarily reduce symptoms of depression, but this effect is lost upon resumption of sleep. It highlights the complex relationship between sleep, mood, and insomnia 4.
- Affecting muscle repair, learning, and hormonal regulation during deep non-REM sleep, and emotional processing and testosterone levels during REM sleep 5 6.
It is important to seek medical attention for chronic sleep deprivation or insomnia, as these conditions can have long-term impacts on your health.
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