Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Health

Questions and Answers

Inability to identify objects by touch, difficulty concentrating, and paranoia

9-10 hours

Hormonal imbalance and illness

To regulate hormones and repair DNA Signup and view all the answers

Glymphatic system Signup and view all the answers

Improved memory Signup and view all the answers

Impaired memory function Signup and view all the answers

It increases the risk of hormonal imbalance Signup and view all the answers

It becomes more active to clean out waste Signup and view all the answers

Impairs learning and memory processes Signup and view all the answers

Increased inflammation in the body Signup and view all the answers

It allows the body to repair, replenish, and regulate hormones Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

In 1965, a 17-year-old high school student named Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours as an experiment to see the effects of sleep deprivation on the human body.
Throughout the experiment, Gardner experienced various negative effects such as loss of focus, inability to identify objects by touch, moodiness, lack of coordination, difficulty concentrating, short-term memory issues, paranoia, and hallucinations.
Sleep is essential for overall health as it allows the body to repair DNA, replenish itself, and regulate hormones. Adults need 7-8 hours of sleep per night, while adolescents need about 10 hours.
Chronic sleep deprivation can have serious consequences on health, leading to hormonal imbalance, illness, and in extreme cases, death. It can also impact learning, memory, mood, reaction time, inflammation, high blood pressure, hallucinations, diabetes, and obesity.
The brain's glymphatic system is a clean-up mechanism that becomes more active during sleep, flushing away toxic byproducts that accumulate between cells. This system helps prevent the negative symptoms associated with sleep deprivation.