DISEASES / CONDITIONS

Insomnia can have a resounding impact on both mental and physical health. Continued lack of sleep can increase your risk of developing long-term diseases and conditions. When we sleep, our body regulates many processes such as hormone and protein production as well as blood pressure and blood sugar control.

Find out how lack of sleep can impact your health below:

• Weight Gain:
  Too little sleep may disrupt the balance of hormones that regulate hunger and appetite and increase the risk of weight gain. Researchers found that sleep deprivation in healthy adults caused an increase in a hormone responsible for feelings of hunger and a decrease in a hormone that suppresses hunger.
• Immune System:
  Without sufficient sleep, your body makes fewer proteins that can target inflammation and infection, effectively creating an immune response. These proteins called cytokines are produced and released during sleep.
• Diabetes:
  Insufficient sleep is linked to an increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes. Sleep duration and quality have emerged as predictors of levels of Hemoglobin A1c, an important marker of blood sugar control. This suggests that optimizing sleep duration and quality may be an important means of improving blood sugar control in persons with type 2 diabetes.
• Cardiovascular Disease:
  Persons with sleep apnea have been found to be at an increased risk for a number of cardiovascular diseases. Such diseases as hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeats have been found to be more common among those with disordered sleep than their peers without sleep abnormalities.

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