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Teenage life is very hectic, as is obvious. With lots of school and college work, spending time with your partner, parents, and peers gives you only a little time for yourself. In that span of time, you have to look after your physical and mental health1, which seems quite impossible. Then what do you do? You start compromising with your sleep. Whatever extra time you need gets cut from your sleep. As a teenager, you should have about 8 hours of sleep to rest2 your body properly. Your lack of sleep may be the cause of several problems that may be plaguing you.
Here is the list of some problems which occurs due to lack of sleep –
Mood swings – When your sleep cycle3 is not completed or disturbed, you feel tired and irritated. You fret about the smallest things, like someone laughing out loud, talking loudly, small taunts, light pranks, etc. You stop enjoying and properly interacting with the people around you. You feel frustrated by your friends and family, which eventually brings conflicts and ill fortune.
Difficulty in remembering things – When you don’t get sufficient sleep, your learning process gets disturbed. That is why some children have difficulty keeping up with their peers. You are not able to remember anything because you are unable to concentrate. So, it helps you sleep properly and improves your learning and memory4.
Migraine – This is a rare occurrence. You feel frustrated and irritated when you don’t get enough sleep, which may cause headaches. That is why a person having a headache is advised to sleep for some time, improving their condition. But sometimes, this headache evolves into a migraine. So, be careful!
Cold and cough – Research has proved that people who sleep for less than 5 hours are more prone to cold and cough than those who sleep for more than 7 hours, irrespective of the geographic area and the seasons. It is quite surprising that sleeplessness can also be responsible for the cold you get infected with from time to time.
Poor Vision – Waking up late at night and not getting proper sleep may also result in poor vision. It can lead to tunnel vision, double vision, cloudiness, or blurred vision5. Sometimes, it may also result in hallucinations. The more visual errors you encounter, the more likely you will hallucinate. Proper sleep can help you to protect your eyes.
Gain Weight – Not getting proper sleep may increase your junk food intake, which has a high-calorie count and can increase body weight, thus making you more susceptible to diseases.
Stomach Problems – Lack of proper sleep can result in bowel disease, inflammatory problems, gas trouble, etc. It often results in acid reflux and upsets your stomach.
You will encounter many other mental problems if you don’t take proper sleep of about 8 hours. Therefore you should heed the proverb, “Early to bed, early to rise a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
- Koenig, Harold G. Is religion good for your health?: The effects of religion on physical and mental health. Routledge, 2013. ↩︎
- Gottselig, J. M., et al. “Sleep and rest facilitate auditory learning.” Neuroscience 127.3 (2004): 557-561. ↩︎
- Březinová, Vlasta. “Sleep cycle content and sleep cycle duration.” Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology 36 (1974): 275-282. ↩︎
- Rasch, Björn, and Jan Born. “About sleep’s role in memory.” Physiological reviews (2013). ↩︎
- Barnett, Michael H., Gurjit Chohan, and Leo Davies. “Blurred vision and pain in the eye.” Medical journal of Australia 195.6 (2011): 329-332. ↩︎
Last Updated on by Sathi