Lack of sleep is dangerous to your health. It makes you more susceptible to disease and infection. It causes wounds to heal slower and makes your aches and pains more intense. It increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease, and in extreme cases leads to death. It is important to see a doctor if you are having trouble sleeping.
There are also immediate side effects that can cause physical and mental changes to your body such as morning headaches, daytime drowsiness, irritability, difficulty focusing and low motivation.
If your side effects and health risks aren’t enough to send you to a physician, consider these risks too:
- Drowsy driving puts you, your passengers and those sharing the road with you in grave danger.
- Drive for your career? Drowsy driving accidents could lead to the loss of your license and job.
- Being drowsy at work makes it harder to focus and easier to make mistakes of miss important details. Irritability jeopardizes your work relationships. Waking with a morning headache increases your chance of absenteeism. All of this puts your job at risk.
- The same is true for students. Lack of sleep makes it harder to pay attention, understand and then retain facts. If you are tired you will doze off during class or miss class altogether. Poor sleep will make it difficult to do well in school.
Do you snore? If so, your loved ones may also suffer from sleep deprivation and may also be at risk. Consider these same risk factors with your loved ones in mind. Ready to find a sleep doctor now? We hope so!