How Sleeplessness Influenced Me
Although sleep is essential for us, few people realize the importance of getting enough sleep every day. Imagine what would happen if we had not slept for several days. That is, when we cannot get enough sleep, what will happen to our physical and mental health? Scientists suggest that adults should sleep for 7 to 9 hours a day; however, I have suffered from sleeplessness for a few weeks. While the sleeping problem sounds like a small thing, it can actually bring several negative effects to our everyday lives.
One of the greatest effects caused by sleeplessness was low efficiency. Sleep deprivation leads to several bad effects on our brains, which makes us more difficult to think. Also, sleeplessness can cause inattention, and this results in wrong decisions that people are tending to make. When I suffered from sleep deprivation, I found it really hard to focus my mind on what I was doing. Every time I tried to keep concentrating on the class;
however, the lack of sleep distracted me. What’s worse, sleeplessness even results in the decline of my short-term memory. Thus, my grades slipped because I could not remember clearly about those points in my textbook. Due to my sleeplessness, I felt tired and dozed off in class. This made me miss some of the important information that
the teacher had mentioned; I had to ask my friends for
the missing information, which is really inconvenient. Therefore, sleeplessness has resulted in several negative impacts on my study efficiency and my mind.
Another consequence of sleeplessness was that the immune system of my body became weaker than usual. Scientific experiments have shown that T cells in our bodies can fight against pathogens or bacteria, thereby enhancing our body’s immunity. On the other hand, sleep insufficiency can lead to our T cells not being able to work well, and the immunity of our bodies might decline. Sleeplessness has caused my body to decrease in immunity,
and this has led to a high-frequency mouth ulcer. I got a mouth ulcer every few weeks during my sleepless period, and this actually brought lots of inconvenience in my daily life. Because of sleeplessness, I found that one’s personal health condition is closely linked with the quality of sleep.
Furthermore, sleeplessness also results in mental health problems, which include feeling anxious and stressful. During the time we sleep, our brains will release stress and make us feel relaxed. However, this step cannot be done if we do not get enough sleep. Sleep insufficiency keeps our stress remain active, and this can make us feel painful. Besides, sleep deprivation can also bring about problems like irritability, anxiety, and mood changes. When I lacked sleep, I felt overwhelmed by the heavy stress and lost the energy to do anything. A lot of negative thoughts came to my mind, and I felt passive and depressed. What’s more, I could not get enough sleep and it even made me easily lose my temper. With sleep insufficiency, my mental health was badly affected.
According to the above three examples, it is obvious that sleep is necessary for our brains. Our body systems are mainly controlled by our brains. As a result, sleep insufficiency can bring several negative impacts on learning efficiency, as well as on both our physical and mental health. In order to keep healthy, we should be more concerned about our sleeping quality. Moreover, we should make sure that we get enough sleep that our bodies need. Sleeping is really important to us, and it has a lot to do with our health. The influences caused by sleeplessness are so serious that they must not be neglected.
Sources:
柯政宏、蔡玲玲、謝淑蘭 (2013) 剝奪睡眠，也剝奪注意力。
https://sa.ylib.com/MagArticle.aspx?id=3018
江永慶 (2020) 睡個好覺 增加免疫力。
http://sleep.di-yi.com.tw/case-list/item/288.html
Hsu. (2022) 疲憊時想法會變得比較負面！「持續五天睡不好會對身邊的人亂發脾氣」3個生活好習慣，讓壓力與睡眠保持距離。
https://www.elle.com/tw/beauty/health/g40877920/how-are-sleep-and-stress-related/