The value of a good night sleep cannot be over emphasized. It has been said time and again that good sleep leads to good health. Good sleep does not mean sleeping the whole day. It means going to bed at the right time and sleeping for six to eight hours. That is the average time recommended by numerous specialists.
This ensures that you wake up early feeling refreshed. Sadly, many people have given this sound advice a deaf ear. Instead, they have developed bad habits that are affecting their general well-being without them even noticing.
Some of these effects might take a while to manifest. Apart from the common ones such as reduced productivity or laziness, here are more reasons why staying up late is bad for you.
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High Blood Pressure
If you keep on staying up until 2:00 am, you might one day wake up in the hospital with a severe case of high blood pressure. We all know that high blood pressure is caused by too much stress.
Denying your body sleep may cause you to be stressed out and hence end up with high blood pressure. This, in turn, leads to other ailments such as heart failure, kidney failure, eye problems and many others. Stress, insomnia and high blood pressure go hand in hand, don’t let it lead you to your grave early.
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Obesity and Serious Weight Gain
We all want to stay fit. No one wants to be fat and unhealthy. Many scientific studies have shown a correlation between sleep deprivation and weight gain. Denying yourself sleep has adverse effects on your ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”), which is a hormone that controls your appetite.
Once ghrelin has been messed with, leptin (the “obesity hormone”) will not be able to determine whether you are full or hungry. This will, in turn, affect your digestive system and you will end up with several pounds of unwanted fat in your body.
Related: What Can Make You Overweight and Cause Obesity
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Car Accidents
Imagine you must get up early to go to work at 7:00 am and yet you only slept at 3:00 am? Chances are, by the time you wake up to rush to work, you still aren’t fully awake. A person who is sleep-deprived is as good as a drunken person.
No matter how hard you deny your body rest, it will still force itself to slow down and get some rest by itself. This might happen at the worst time, in this case, while you are driving to or from work.
Related: 12 Ways to Stay Awake While Driving
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Skin Problems and Premature Aging
Have you ever seen those people who look like they are 80 years old yet they are only 40? One of them may be suffering from insomnia. Again, this all boils down to you putting too much stress on your body and causing some hormonal malfunctions.
Cortisol (the “stress hormone”) and collagen do not go hand in hand. Once you have stressed your body too much and it produces a lot of cortisol, it will digest the collagen in your body. Collagen is the reason why you have that silky, smooth skin.
Once it is broken down, it will leave your skin dry and people will be left wondering about how old you really are. So, if you want to look younger, don’t sleep late.
Related: 10 Best Anti-Aging Tips for Youthful Skin
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Reduced Immunity to Diseases
You may be young and full of life but then you wonder why sometimes you fall sick too often. The reason might be the long hours you spend at night chatting with your friends or watching the latest videos on YouTube.
The body produces antibodies that protect you from diseases. These antibodies function well when you eat well and have enough rest. When your body is exhausted, it inhibits the production of these antibodies leaving you prone to attack by common illnesses. If you really want to reduce all those unnecessary doctor’s appointments, sleep early.
Related: 10 Ways to Boost Your Immune System
There are so many illnesses and complications that you can easily avoid if you sleep early. You may not notice any negative side effect at first, but one day you will be lying in a hospital bed wondering where you went wrong. Take your health and life in your own hands and start developing a healthy sleeping habit today.
