“Chronic sleep deprivation lowers testosterone levels and can age a young man by 10 to 15 years. The lack of a hormone causes diseases of the endocrine system,” said study leader Yves Van Kauter. The scientist, together with colleagues at the university, conducted an experiment with the participation of volunteers, whose average age was 24 years. Young people were offered a psychological and physical examination to identify diseases of the endocrine system, as well as mental disorders. During the three days of the study, the participants slept for ten hours, and the next eight days – less than five hours. On the third day of good sleep and the last day of short sleep, the researchers took blood samples for analysis every 15-30 minutes for 24 hours.
As a result, they found that lack of sleep had a strong effect on testosterone levels. After a week of lack of sleep, the concentration of the hormone in the blood decreased by 10-15%. A significant decrease was noted in the followingnoon, when they slept less than five hours. In addition, volunteers reported bad mood, general muscle weakness, decreased libido and energy levels to specialists.
An article regarding the study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Journal of the American Medical Association – JAMA).
The insidiousness of lack of sleep is that the lack of sleep is almost impossible to fill. Sleep experts warn: you can get enough sleep within a day, that is, sleep off today for yesterday. And this is at best. It will not be possible to compensate for the weekly deficit.
And chronic lack of sleep leads to the fact that the mechanisms of self-healing of the nervous system are violated. People have serious problems with falling asleep and the quality of sleep: it becomes superficial and intermittent. And in the morning instead of cheerfulness and freshness – a headache and a feeling of weakness. We often try to help ourselves in such a situation with the help of sleeping pills. And this is what happens: in the evening we swallow the medicine to fall asleep, and in the morning we stuff ourselves with stimulants to wake up.
Unfamiliar – it’s stress. Therefore, due to pressure, the heartbeat quickens, the stomach and intestines “strike”. Irritability grows, attention dissipates. Lack of sleep – it’s overweight. The human body is genetically programmed so that wakefulness is possible only in two situations – the extraction of food and the flight from danger. In both cases, a sufficiently large amount of energy is required. Therefore, it is not surprising that night owls often raid the refrigerator.
According to statistics, people who sleep less than 4 hours a night, the risk of getting obese is 74% higherthan those who sleep 7-9 hours. Sleeping 5 hours can add extra pounds in 50% of cases, and six hours of sleep increases the risk of obesity by 23%. Lack of sleep – the development of hormonal deficiency (testosterone deficiency). For men – loss of erection, decreased libido, osteoporosis (development of increased bone fragility, their excessive fragility), insomnia, depression, apathy, loss of physical activity.
Recipes for insomnia.
Main points: hhealthy food, cfresh air, calm environment while getting ready for bed. Electronics. Do not sit late at the computer or on the mobile phone. At night, it is advisable to turn off all household appliances, because even in standby mode they emit barely noticeable high frequency soundswhich are annoying, like a mosquito itching above the ear. The mobile phone must be turned off from the network and taken to another room, and not placed next to you.
But the main thing is to understand that sacrificing sleep means shortening life. If you cannot restore sleep yourself, it is better to contact a sleep specialist. He may recommend, for example, sleep deprivation, or 36-hour wakefulness, which allows you to restore the knocked down biological clock. This tool, for all its outward simplicity, is used only for the purpose of a specialist and under his supervision.