Organ systems affected by lack of sleep

Many people only manage to appreciate the effects of lack of sleep on their psychological state, this instills in them the false belief that the ailments associated with depression, anxiety, lack of concentration, memory loss, stress, among others, are temporary and that these are the only effects they suffer when they do not get adequate rest. The truth is that this thought is far from reality.

First of all, the aforementioned effects should not be minimized, since they considerably damage our quality of life and constitute a major risk factor for the development of various chronic diseases. Lack of sleep is so lethal to human health that it impacts different organ systems such as the immune, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, among others. During the development of this guide we will focus on the impact that lack of sleep has on our health, paying attention to the aforementioned organ systems.

Effects on the immune system due to lack of sleep

One of the systems that suffers most in the human organism, due to lack of sleep, is the immune system. This system is responsible for creating the defenses that our organism needs to naturally combat the different pathological agents, such as viruses or bacteria, which cause the appearance of various diseases.

Several studies have analyzed the negative impact of sleep deprivation on our biological defenses. The various hormonal changes that our body undergoes during this phenomenon lead to a weakening of our body's ability to react to combat these diseases. On the other hand, when our body has rested for at least 8 or 9 hours, a clear strengthening of the barriers of our immune system is evident.

Affections to the cardiovascular system due to lack of sleep

The cardiovascular system is another system that is significantly affected by the lack of sleep in our body. Cardiovascular diseases represent approximately 50 percent of the total mortality of the population worldwide. Several scientific studies have linked lack of sleep to one of the most important risk factors for the appearance of different cardiovascular diseases.

Among the cardiovascular diseases that cause the most deaths is myocardial infarction. It is estimated that sleep disorders can increase the probability of suffering a myocardial attack by two to three times, which is why, together with smoking and lack of physical activity, not getting enough sleep is another of the elements that we must eliminate if we wish to increase the probability of living a healthy life.

Effects on the cerebrovascular system due to lack of sleep

The cerebrovascular system can be affected by different risk factors, which on many occasions are common to those of the cardiovascular system. Such is the case of smoking, which, by clogging the arteries and increasing blood pressure, causes a greater risk of heart and brain infarctions. Similarly, lack of sleep is dangerous for our cerebrovascular system, increasing one to four times the chances of suffering a cerebral infarction.

Considering the above, it is easy to see how we underestimate the effects of lack of sleep, due to the level of misinformation we have. Since the disorders it causes in our organism happen progressively, it is difficult to realize the damage we do to our body by maintaining this bad habit of life.