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9 Dangerous Long Term Effects Of Insomnia On Our Body

By Catherine Jones on November 30, 2015

It is necessary to have a clear understanding of sleep in order to understand the long term effects of insomnia or lack of proper sleep.

Sleep is a complicated procedure involving the brain and the body. When this procedure remains incomplete, the brain and the body are not able to function in the proper manner.

There are a number of effects caused due to insomnia such as retardation of mental functions like concentrating, remembering and learning things.

Apart from this, a person suffering from insomnia might feel tired and fatigued. In addition to these short term effects, there are even some long term effects of insomnia on our body.

Long Term Effects of Insomnia On Body

Some of the dangerous long term effects of insomnia on our body, which you need to be aware of are mentioned below:

Obesity

Insomnia results in increasing body weight of a person. With lack of sleep, hunger pangs and appetite in that person increase will increase. And, as a result there is every chance of increasing risk of obesity.

Heart Problems

One of the dangerous long term effects of insomnia or lack of sleep is the increased risk of heart problems. Poor and frequent lack of sleep can result into serious heart problems like heart attack, stroke, hypertension, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, and many other heart diseases.

Diabetes

Lack of sleep in a diabetic will also result in increased blood sugar level. As said earlier, with insomnia a person tends to eat more. And even results in tiredness. This ultimately results in increased intake of food causing increased blood sugar levels.

Increased Risk Of Accident

Insomnia is one of the major causes for road accidents. Most of road accidents are caused to due to drowsy driving. Lack of sleep will result in to fatigue, tiredness, and drowsiness in a person. All these things are one of the major contributors for increasing the risk of accident.

Changes in Personality

People suffering from insomnia tend to get irritated even over minuscule matters. The change in an individual’s personality is because of the insomnia depending on the individual and the length of proper sleep that the individual has been disrupted of. Personal relationships also get destroyed due to insomnia.

Brain Slows Down

The brain is not able to function in the proper manner. It loses its usual capability of thinking and pondering over different matters due to the lack of adequate sleep. This slows down the performance rate of an individual.

Weak Immune System

Not getting good and proper sleep at night means that the immune system is not able to produce the infection fighting cells and antibodies and the protective cytokines. This actually deprives the body of its capability of fending off invaders.

Respiratory Problems

With a weakened immune system an individual is prone to various respiratory problems such as influenza and common cold. Severe lung disease can get aggravated due to sleep deprivation.

Poor Life Quality

Due to lack of proper sleep, an individual is deprived of the sustained attention needed for enjoying various activities. Poor sleep makes a person lose concentration and attention making that person deprived from enjoying life fully.

Photo Credits: huffingtonpost.com