Friday, September 28, 2012

5 Signs You Need More Sleep Right NOW Before You Sleep FOREVER!

I have always had this false misconception that I don't have to sleep; look at vampires...these blood-suckers are still looking so young and fit even without any sleep at all. Ha :D And even if I do need to sleep, I believe I should not be on the bed for more than 5 hours. Well...that was what I thought. However I realized that lack of sleep is really catching up with me, especially after the arrival of my second baby-Jasmine. My belief that sleep is not needed is false...sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me.


Not getting enough sleep regularly has far more terrible consequences than just dozing off while your boss is talking during the meeting. Lack of sleep will lead to more serious long-term health hazards such as weakened immune system, obesity (no wonder I am getting fatter), heart attack, high blood pressure (stroke) and even depression. that sounds a bit worrying. If you don't feel particularly exhausted, there are still symptoms telling you that you are suffering from fatigue. Here are the 5 warning signs to watch out for.

5 Signs Telling You To Sleep Right Now

1~Lack of Libido: Now you know why workaholics, men and women, are not interested to romp in their beds after punching their cards. Healthy men and women who go without enough sleep will have dramatically lower levels of testosterone and estrogen respectively. For men: Do you know that getting only 5 hours of sleep a night can decrease testosterone levels by a whopping 10-15%? And this will continue to decline at a rate of 1% a year as you age. Meaning that your regular late nights might result in having the testosterone of a man 15 years older...and of course that means your libido will be decreased and your sex drive will be lowered dramatically as well.

2~Lack of Strength: Besides your hormones that drive your sexually, all your other growth hormones are also compromised by your lack of sleep. In other words, you will struggle to ad size and strength to your muscles. Research has shown that lack of sleep will not only raises the levels of stress hormone cortisol, which will break down your muscle, but also encourages your body to store more fat. That is why you are expanding horizontally when you are staying up every single night!

3~Lack of Focus: Imagine you are a camera which cannot focus on the subject that you want to capture. What happens? Everything will be really blurry right? That is what happens when you don't have enough sleep. Here's something shocking from the British Medical Journal: When you are tired (because lack of sleep), your ability to stay focused is on par with when you are drunk. So lack of sleep equals to you being a drunkard? Ultimately sleep deprivation will prevent you from paying attention because your brain is slower at processing information. You will be focus-less. Imagine you cannot focus while you are driving...

4~Lack of Memory: Are you struggling to remember the trigonometry that your nutty maths teacher has taught you? Have you forgotten your boss' order to do something during the meeting? Do you seem to forget your colleagues' name? A research done by Harvard Medical School has shown that lack of sleep with deter us from successfully "storing" memories in our huge brain. I can't help but feel that it sounds like the onset of Alzheimer.  :/

5~Lack of Appetite: When you are way over your bed time...your appetite will go haywire. Meaning that your natural appetite will fluctuate crazily when you are sleep-deprived. You will either want to eat all the time or not a single bite at all. Why is this mayhem happening in your tummy? This is because lack of sleep disrupts your hormones that regulate glucose metabolism and appetite. Now you know!

Obviously lack of sleep is never good huh! Seems like yours truly me needs to readjust my sleeping schedule? I hope my friends and fellow bloggers who have been staying up late, will try to get more sleep. Never compromise your health for the sake of other things such as blogging, watching TV, playing games, blah~blah~blah~ know how terrible this can be. Get enough sleep before you sleep FOREVER. The clock is ticking. Time to switch off everything...zzzZZZZ