 Hi everyone, thank you for your continued love and support. We hope you're all having a great weekend so far. Site to Go's vision is to make psychology accessible for everyone, as well as occasionally covering topics around mental health. Our mission is to help everyone become more self-aware of the various psychological factors that affect our lives. One such largely ignored aspect is quality sleep. Watch along to see how sleep can affect your life. Scrolling through social media apps as the late evening turns into early morning, or watching just one more episode to see what happens next in the show, we've all been there before. Fighting the urge to let yourself succumb to the sleep you know you so desperately need. These situations are rather common, of course, but when they become a habit, they can lead to a slew of problems. Sleep deprivation refers to when a person gets less sleep than his or her body needs to feel awake and alert. If you've been up too late on Tumblr, watching Netflix, or talking to a friend, you know that when your alarm goes off for work or school, you're not going to be feeling too great. And it's about more than just hours of sleep. The quality of sleep matters too, because it needs to actually be restorative. According to the National Sleep Foundation's website, our bodies progress through four stages of sleep, starting with light sleep, then the brainwaves slow, and the heart rate and temperature drop. Next, we fall into a deep sleep where we become harder to wake up, and finally, we reach the REM stage, also known as rapid eye movement, which is when we dream. This fourth stage plays an important role in learning and memory function. The effects of not reaching all the stages of sleep and the resulting sleep deprivation are important because they impact the mind and body in quite a few different ways. It might be kind of weird to think that sleep has such a significant impact on us, but here are some key ways that show just how important getting the right kind of sleep is. 1. Increased risk of physical illness Our immune systems are a collection of cells and organs in our bodies that protect against disease, and to function properly, it requires a sort of maintenance. Sleep provides that maintenance. When we don't sleep, our bodies can't produce a type of protective protein called cytokines, needed for the immune system to do its job, the cytokines fight infection. As mentioned in a study by Mayo Clinic, without adequate sleep, we may get sick more easily. It can also cause recovering from illness that we already have to take longer. It can increase our risk of chronic illnesses and even lead to respiratory diseases, according to a Medical News Today report. It makes sense, too. How can anyone hope to stay healthy if they don't stop and rest? 2. Higher risk of obesity and weight gain Without an ample amount of sleep, getting through the day might seem overwhelming and exhausting, so exercising most likely won't be a part of your to-do list. The prolonged periods without enough physical activity mean we're taking in more calories than we burn, leading to weight gain. The risk for obesity is even more extreme when we consider that sleep deprivation actually causes the hunger-regulating hormone levels to fluctuate, so we crave more foods, carbs in particular. According to Healthline website, insulin, which controls blood sugar levels and promotes fat storage in high amounts, increases when we run low on sleep. 3. More trouble regulating emotions Proper sleep hygiene is an essential part of being mentally healthy, too, especially when we consider that our emotions are largely reliant on it. When we can't sleep at night, it's incredibly frustrating. We may be lying awake, staring at the ceiling, tossing and turning or counting sheep in a desperate attempt to get some shut-eye, and the frustration it causes carries over into the next morning. Mania and depression also feed off one another as reported in Web NT. When our negative thoughts or worries chase each other around our subconscious all night, as they do in those with depression, we feel worse. This in turn adds to the insomnia. Sleep deprivation can also trigger mania in those who are bipolar. This mood disorder is known for its grand fluctuations in energy and its extreme is also marked by trouble with emotional regulation. 4. Lowered ability to focus It's definitely harder to pay attention and concentrate after pulling an all-nighter. We become easily distracted, our focus shifting quickly from one thing to another, probably because we're only thinking about how tired we are in the first place. It's as though our brains are trying to catch up on the sleep it missed while we're still supposed to be awake and functioning. But there's more going on in the brain than just that. Sleep allows us to learn and form memories through the brain ripples that occurred during its deepest state. With less sleep, we're more prone to forgetfulness and other learning difficulties. 5. Increased chance of motor vehicle and related accidents Not only can fatigue lead to distractiveness and difficulty in concentrating on the road, but it can also slow reaction time as much as driving drunk. In the worst case scenarios, a driver will fall asleep at the wheel. And even if that doesn't happen, he or she is still more likely to make poor driving choices, such as rolling through stop signs, blowing red lights, merging without looking. According to the CDC website, driving drowsy is responsible for up to 6,000 fatal car accidents each year. It's extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Getting an appropriate amount of sleep is important, to say the very least. Teenagers typically need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night and adults need 7 to 9. Without reaching those sleep goals, you might find yourself experiencing some of the problems described above. If you're tossing and turning for more than 20 minutes, getting up for a short amount of time before getting back into bed again can help rewire your thoughts. Having a bedtime routine, such as washing up, turning off screens, reading a book is an encouraging way to battle insomnia because the body gets conditioned to know it's time for bed. If that doesn't work, ask yourself, what are the underlying thoughts you have that are keeping you from sleeping well? Or if you need to fight the urge to go to sleep because you want to keep doing whatever it is that you're doing, remembering the negative impact of doing so might persuade you to get to bed a little earlier. Do you have trouble sleeping or your to-do list forces you to stay up late? Or is it increasingly just becoming a habit? If so, you might want to consider these drawbacks closely as they're affecting the way you live your life. Also, remember to share this with someone you think might benefit from these as well. Don't forget to click the like button and subscribe for more content. And as always, thanks for watching.