Not getting the sleep we need makes us view life as if we were in a video game. As a result of not sleeping, we can feel like the world is melting away with us inside while we feel immobile and unable to do anything about it.
Almost all of us have gone through periods of not being able to sleep properly at some point. This may be because we have not dedicated enough hours to sleep or because we have had the feeling that we were not able to rest.
Unrefreshing sleep may be a complaint that sleep is of poor quality and does not leave us feeling rested when we wake up despite having slept enough hours.
As we will see, the idea that we have to sleep 8 hours a day is very relative and does not apply to everyone. In other words, each person needs something different about sleep and rest. Let’s learn a little more about this…
How to differentiate normal sleep variations from insomnia problems
We must know that the hours that each of us needs to sleep vary considerably. Some people may not need more than 5 hours of sleep a day, but others may need 10 to feel rested. Not sleeping the “recommended” hours does not mean that we are not doing well. Each person needs more or less rest depending on their needs.
Short sleepers are often concerned about the duration of their sleep. However, unlike insomniacs, they have no difficulty falling or staying asleep. As a result, these people will not experience daytime symptoms such as fatigue, concentration problems, or irritability.
However, sometimes “short sleepers”, wanting to rest for longer, may stay in bed for hours and develop sleep patterns similar to those of a person with insomnia. This will generate that feeling of lack of quality and quantity of sleep.
Similarly, as we get older, the quantity and quality of our sleep changes, making it less and less satisfactory. We may also find ourselves in complicated life situations that prevent us from getting any sleep.
As we can see, all these situations do not constitute a problem in themselves, but they can be the prelude to the development of daytime symptoms that are as distressing as they are unpleasant.
What not having a restful sleep means to us
As we mentioned, the complaint of not getting a good night’s sleep or not sleeping at all is so common that we have all gone through times when we have felt exhausted, anxious, and fed up from not getting enough sleep.
So, knowing that our body uses sleep as a way to organize and repair itself, we can imagine that the consequences of a lack of it are devastating. Let’s look at some of them below:
Irritability
This is one of the most notable consequences of not sleeping. When we have not slept enough, we feel so overwhelmed that everything seems maddening and intolerable.
Thus, we end up displaying aggressive behavior toward everything around us, even toward ourselves. Most of what happens around us makes us angry and even the smallest detail irritates us excessively. The worst of all is that it is something that we feel incapable of controlling.
Fatigue and depressive mood
The lack of restful sleep has negative consequences for our mood. Fatigue and lack of mental rest will make us feel deeply sad and incapable of carrying out our tasks.
This makes us lose our joy and desire to live, undermining our self-esteem and our enthusiasm for new projects. As a result, our attitude will be one of surrender and timidity.
Emotional lability
As we have already mentioned, lack of sleep makes it difficult for us to control our emotions, thoughts, and behavior. In this sense, emotional instability prevents us from dealing with our emotions and, as a consequence, we feel like we are on a kind of roller coaster.
So, we may feel like crying as soon as we want to laugh, or we may simply want to hide from a world to which we do not wish to be accountable for an indefinite period.
Lack of mental agility
Our attention and concentration decrease to unimaginable levels. When we are tired, we are not able to concentrate on anything or think clearly. This makes us feel deeply disconcerted and incapable of carrying out tasks due to our lack of lucidity.
The cotton head is a way of designating the difficulty of thinking in an orderly manner. This confusion does not represent a dysfunction, but rather a sensation that will be attenuated when we rest properly.
Inability to make decisions
As you might expect, a lack of concentration prevents us from understanding the reality around us. For this reason, if we have not slept well, our behaviors and thoughts are likely to be much more erratic.
If sleeping difficulties or poor sleep quality persist for a long time, we may encounter more serious problems such as major depressive disorder, hypertension and myocardial infarction, increased absenteeism and lower work productivity, lower quality of life, and more financial problems.
Learn to optimize your sleeping habits
Knowing the needs of our body and mind is essential to ensure a good night’s sleep. For this reason, our task is to examine our bedtime habits and how they affect our sleep.
Thus, to optimize our sleep, we must stably maintain certain routines. Let’s review some of the advice that psychologists give us:
– Do not drink caffeine at least 6 hours before going to bed.
– Do not smoke or drink alcohol at least 2-3 hours before going to sleep
– Do not exercise excessively before going to sleep.
– Do not eat large amounts of food and/or liquids before going to sleep.
Thus, to optimize our sleep, we must stably maintain certain routines. Let’s review some of the advice that psychologists give us:
– Do not drink caffeine at least 6 hours before going to bed.
– Do not smoke or drink alcohol at least 2-3 hours before going to sleep
– Do not exercise excessively before going to sleep.
– Do not eat large amounts of food and/or liquids before going to sleep.
– Maintain regular hours and only go to bed to sleep or have sex.
If, despite controlling all these variables, our difficulty in sleeping persists, we should go to a specialist to help us solve our problems. Let us remember that “when we sleep, we live longer” and let us give our rest the importance it deserves in our lives.