What are the implications of severe insomnia?
The implications of not getting the proper amount of quality sleep can be severe and may have serious long-term consequences. Studies show again and again that sleep deprivation adversely affects performance and mental alertness.
Brain function rapidly deteriorates without sleep. Reducing sleep by as little as one-and-a-half hours for just one night may reduce daytime alertness by almost 30%. This means you’re functioning only at the fraction of your capacity and may be exposing yourself to an unnecessary risk of injury at work or ending up in a traffic accident. (Drowsiness and a factor in about half of all traffic accidents.)
Lack of proper rest will result in sleepiness during the day, general tiredness, and extreme irritability. It impacts memory, greatly reduces concentration, weakens ability to think. It may have a negative impact on your interaction with other people and your performance at work, putting at risk your career or your business successes.
And that’s just the implications of a relatively short-term acute insomnia.
Prolonged severe insomnia
Prolonged severe insomnia can cause a whole slew of unpleasant consequences, both short- and long-term, such as:
- Physiological: Muscle weakness, slow reaction time, daytime drowsiness, dizziness or unsteadiness, increasing the risk of falls and injuries.
- Mental disorders: severe confusion, lowered intellectual performance, memory difficulties, partial amnesia, headache, nausea and vomiting.
- Visual impairments: double vision or even hallucinations in some cases.
- Long-lasting psychological disorders: risk of depression, risk of anxiety disorder.
Not only you feel constantly tired and dazed. There is another hidden danger. And increased nighttime metabolism may lead to nigh-time munchies, overeating, and then to overweight and high blood pressure, risk of heart disease and diabetes. Not pretty…
And there is a danger that severe chronic insomnia will weaken immune system making you more vulnerable to viruses.
In the next section we’ll start looking at the available treatments for insomnia, their effects … and side effects. (Read it here…)
