How Long Can You Go Without Sleep

It is 4 a.m. in the morning and you are still heads-up, bleakly waiting for sunrise and watching the ruddy digits of your bedside clock tick away into another day. You pull back the sheets and try to get some snooze, but the alarm hits back and you are back on your feet again! Well, if you think you are the only one caught into this annoying fit of wakefulness, take heart for you are not the only one! Many people often complain of lack of sleep that not only undermines their productivity, but also jars the quality of their lives. Anything from stress to over slogging to late-night television shows can throw one into bouts of sleeplessness causing major dysfunction in the longer run. Sleep deprivation is a serious condition that can lead to severe consequences. If you take anything less than five minutes to hit the snooze button as soon as you plunk your head on the pillow, it means you are sleep deprived. If you really have a tough time keeping your peepers shut, then reading this article may give you plenty of reasons to snore off. However, before your go, here’s a little trivia for you - Did you know that the longest record for most numbers of sleepless hours is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes? Now that is a nightmarish record!

Cons Of Insufficient Sleep

Not getting enough Z’s? Well, anything from work stress to disturbed slumber to your pretty redhead neighbor can send your good night sleep for a toss. Result, over binging! It has been proven that poor or lack of sleep often stimulates the appetite boosting ‘ghrelin hormone’, thereby whetting up your temptation to binge on high-calorie stuff, more than ever. This high-calorie intake may over the years lead to severe weight gain and obesity and even trigger off cardiovascular diseases. So if you wish to live healthy and long, you better catch up with those extra winks soon.
Do you know that people who sleep for less than seven hours are more vulnerable to flu than those who enjoy their eight-hours of siesta every night? It’s scientifically proven that people who sleep less have a frail immune system than those you get their good night sleep. Bouts of insomnia can impair the body’s effectiveness against antibodies and cause more harm than good. So if you been catching cold too frequently, you probably know by now what’s causing the aaaatttccchhooo!
Watching TV for longer hours, working in front of the laptop for long or even an extra shot of caffeine can throw you into a fit of wakefulness. This can lead to poor performance, greater irritability and a higher risk of diabetes. Medical research has proved that people with poor sleep, over the time, develop resistance to insulin, leading to diabetes. People who sleep for less than six hours are more prone to develop this ‘not-so-sweet’ condition.
Having a tough time keeping your eyes shut? Well, then just skip the late-night, booze-riddled gong shows and catch up with timely supper and sleep. A recent study has found that less than seven hours of eye-shut can increase the level of ‘cortisol’ or stress hormones in the body leading to increased heart rates, high blood pressure and high blood glucose. This can result in lifestyle diseases like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes type 2.
“Ouch! My back hurts” How often have you lived a long night and woke up next morning with a sore neck or feet? Believe it or not, chronic pain like arthritis and back pain are often the painful upshots of bad sleep. Research has found that people who get poor sleep are more likely to experience pain than those who get their sleep.

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