Sleep Deprivation

Spring break is coming up, and since every single teacher at school is either scheduling a test or project day before spring break, what better topic to do than sleep deprivation?

Everyone has those long nights with too much work to do, and every so often we end up staying up the entire night, some of us surviving on a cup of coffee or energy drink. Obviously success doesn't come without hard work, which can mean not sleeping some nights, but did you know about all the effects it will have on you? First off, there are many causes of sleep deprivation. The stresses of daily life may intrude upon our ability to sleep well, or perhaps we trade sleep for more work or play. We may have medical or mental-health conditions that disrupt our sleep, and be well aware that we are sleep deprived. 

There are many prices to pay for sleep deprivation. This doesn't mean that if you pull an all nighter once that any of these conditions will happen, but if you get into a daily routine and it becomes second nature, these side effects can sneak up on you and start taking over your life. Side effects include:

• High Blood Pressure 
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• Obesity
• Psychiatric problems, including depression and other mood disorders
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Mental impairment
• Fetal and childhood growth retardation
• Injury from accidents
• Disruption of bed partner's sleep quality
• Poor quality of life

Sometimes if you feel like you cant do anything about it and life just keeps dragging you down, just think about the things that really matter in the long run. Sometimes in life we can take things too seriously, but just remember that if we feel stressed out about everything, especially things that just really aren't that big of a deal, we will live our already-too-short lives being depressed, tired and miserable. Its always good to catch some Z's!

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690

 http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/important-sleep-habits