There can be times when you just feel like you need more sleep or you may be feeling fine and you suddenly feel tired. This is normal and there is good evidence suggesting that many people don’t get adequate sleep. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation can cause various problems to make your life during the day hard. It can also affect your overall health if not addressed properly. As you can see, there is usually more associated with sleep deprivation than simply feeling exhausted during the day. In this article, you will learn about the signs that you need enough sleep.
Oversleeping and undersleeping
Before you know the signs that you may need to have enough sleep, it’s important to know the effects of oversleeping and undersleeping. Remember that both oversleeping and undersleeping are equally bad for your health. Hypersomnia which refers to sleeping too much is the opposite of insomnia which means lack of enough sleep.
Hypersomnia doesn’t refer to having extra sleep after getting a sleepless night as this can not affect your sleep health. But constantly oversleeping can be a sign that you may have some underlying health conditions.
Good signs that you are oversleeping include a lot of sleep duration that goes more than 8 hours each night. Another sign can also be problems waking up in the morning or even getting out of your bed. You can also experience a feeling of tiredness and you may also be unfocused during the day.
It’s also worth noting that hypersomnia is usually a good sign of depression when it comes to young adults and teens. It can also be a sign that you have an underlying sleep disorder like narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, and many more. You can also experience hypersomnia as well as insomnia simultaneously. No wonder, people who are considered to be long sleepers and short sleepers need to go for a checkup to see if they have sleep disorders.
Signs that you may require more sleep
Keep in mind that feeling tired doesn’t mean that you are suffering from sleep loss. You should also note that sleep deprivation tends to affect your whole body. Some of the signs that you should get more sleep include:
Falling asleep immediately you go to bed
One of the signs that you are not having adequate sleep is when it takes you at least 30 minutes or even more to fall asleep. While it’s a good thing to fall asleep immediately when you go to bed, falling asleep once you lie on the bed is usually a bad sign.
In most cases, you should take at least 10 minutes to 20 minutes to fall asleep at night. However, if you fall asleep quicker than this can be a sign that you have chronic exhaustion and sleep deprivation.
Having a low sex drive
Ideally, you have to get enough sleep to get good sex. This is because your libido can take a hit if you are not sleeping enough during the night. There are some studies that suggest that poor sleep is linked to erectile dysfunction when it comes to men. Also, poor sleep can affect production of hormones in both men and women. As a result, this can reduce your sex drive and it can make it hard for you to get in the sex mood.
In most cases, women can experience reduced sex drive and poor sleep. This is because women usually experience more changes in their hormones during their lives like pregnancy, menopause, and premenstrual symptoms. Further, women also tend to wake up in the night to take care of children or babies.
Dehydration
Drinking a lot of fluids just before bedtime can disturb your sleep. You should also note that insufficient sleep can cause you to feel thirsty. There are some studies that indicate that short sleep time is linked to an increased risk of insufficient hydration.
This can be due to the hormone called vasopressin that your body produces. This hormone is usually produced during late sleep times to prevent hydration. Therefore, interrupted sleep tends to have an effect when vasopressin is released to make you susceptible to dehydration.
A crave for junk food
There is also a good relation between weight gain and sleep deprivation. Just like the examples above, this is also connected to hormones. You see, sleep deprivation tends to enhance the production of ghrelin which is an appetite-stimulating hormone. Besides this, the production of leptin reduces. Remember that leptin allows your body to know when you are full.
Hence, when you are deprived of sleep, there is a good chance that you can eat snacks during the entire day and do less exercises. Worse still, cravings for high calories foods or low nutritional foods can affect your diet.
A feel of anxious
There are many people out there who are experiencing mental illness. Mental health and sleep are related, and they even have a cyclical relationship. When you feel depressed or anxious, it can affect your sleep cycle. Therefore, if you don’t have enough sleep, it can cause you to feel stressed out and anxious.
There is also a close relationship between sleep disorders and mental disorders, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. There is evidence suggesting that at least 50 percent to 90 percent of people suffering from psychiatric disorders also suffer from insomnia. You may be wondering why this happens like this. Well, this is because the overall health of your brain and your mental health usually depend on you having enough sleep during the night. This is the reason why it makes sense to start using a sleep time calculator.
Your mental health, sleep health, and overall health are usually connected. Therefore, if you are experiencing problems with any one of these, then you may be having issues with any one of them. But this can also mean that dealing with one can also enhance the quality of your life. As you can see, it’s important to handle your sleep problems so that you can sleep better and live the life that you deserve.