Lack Of Sleep Shortens Your Life

In this week’s Success Newsletter, I would like to reveal the shocking truth that makes sleep compulsory – the shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.

First a quick update:

The Breakup Test
Are you heartbroken, angry, lost, lonely, confused, depressed, hung up, or pining over your ex? Do you know how your ex is truly affecting you and do you want to benefit from personalized advice, action steps and revelations? Take my free breakup test and get your own personalized report.

Your Subconscious Beliefs About Worthiness & Relationships – Law Of Deservedness
Your life and relationships mirror your subconscious beliefs. What do you believe you are worth? Are you worthy of healthy relationships, of being heard, respected and appreciated? Do you suffer from guilt or shame? Do you set boundaries? Do you subconsciously believe you are good enough? Watch my video 

Now, let’s talk about the shocking truth that reveals that sleep is not optional – the shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.

Have you heard or said the phrase, ‘No time to sleep; I’ll sleep when I am dead’? (Also songs by Warren Zevon and Bon Jovi.)

Well, it seems that the truth is that if you don’t sleep, you will die, and, if you don’t get enough sleep you will become sicker and die faster!

“Sleep loss inflicts such devastating effects on the brain, linking it to numerous neurological and psychiatric conditions (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, suicide, stroke, and chronic pain), and on every physiological system of the body, further contributing to countless disorders and disease (e.g., cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, infertility, weight gain, obesity, and immune deficiency). No facet of the human body is spared the crippling, noxious harm of sleep loss.”
– Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, PhD

Decades of research reveals that adequate sleep helps you:
Live longer
Enhances your memory
Enhances creativity and problem-solving
Aids in rational decision-making
Facilitates the acquisition of motor skills
Makes you more attractive with healthier skin
Keeps you slim and lowers food cravings
Protects you from cancer and dementia (flushes toxins from the brain)
Boosts your immune system and wards off colds and flu
Lowers your risk of heart attacks, stroke and diabetes (it modulates blood sugar, and clears coronary arteries)
Positively impacts mood, making you happier, less depressed, and less anxious

Lack of sleep:
Increases your hunger and appetite
Lowers your impulse control
Curbs your desire to go to the gym
Produces less results from the gym (up to 30% reduced aerobic output and peak & sustained muscle strength)
Increases food consumption, especially high calorie foods
Decreases feeling of being full after eating
Prevents effective weight loss
Lowers your productivity and creativity

Here are some more examples of the devastating effects of a lack of sleep (my summary based on the work and research by Matthew Walker, PhD, professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California):

A physician who only has 6 hours of sleep has a 170% increased risk for a serious surgical error.

People who sleep 5 hours a night have 65% higher likelihood of dying at any time.

A lack of sleep amplifies or triggers psychiatric disorders.

After 24 hours without sleep, your performance is impaired to the same degree as a legally drunk person of blood alcohol content of 0.10%. Would you let or a drunk Uber driver drive you home, or a drunk doctor operate on you?

After 16 hours without sleep, your brain and body begin to physiologically deteriorate.

When sleep deprived, your mood changes dramatically with a 60% increase in emotional reactivity in your amygdala (fear response) – you become prone to risk-taking, your fears heighten, you view others as dangerous, and you exhibit poor decision-making skills. Imagine the danger with emergency personnel who are under-slept such as police, ambulance or military.

Men who have five hours a night of sleep have smaller testicles, 30% lower sperm count, and testosterone levels of someone ten years their senior.

After just one night of 4-5 hours of sleep, there is a 70% reduction of critical anti-cancer fighting immune cells called natural killer cells. Thus, short sleep duration predicts your risk for developing numerous forms of cancer including breast, prostate and bowel cancers.

Sleep-deprived patients are two to three times as likely to suffer calcification of their coronary arteries. Deep sleep lowers your blood pressure and heart rate. 

Adults aged 45 and older who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night are 200% more likely to suffer a heart attack or a stroke than those who get a full night’s sleep.

“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer. Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or not you will develop Alzheimer’s disease.” – Matthew Walker, PhD.

When daylight savings begins (affecting 1.6 billion people across 70 countries) and we lose one hour of sleep, there is a subsequent 24% increase in heart attacks the following day. “In the autumn, when we gain an hour of sleep, we see a 21-percent reduction in heart attacks. And you see exactly the same profile for car crashes, road traffic accidents, even suicide rates.”

Deep Sleep and Dream Sleep
There are two types of sleep – Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM.) Both are critical to health.

NREM is crucial to memory retention, and to acquiring and refining your motor skills. It is responsible for pruning memories, transferring short-term memory to long-term memory, gaining “muscle memory,” growth hormone secretion, and parasympathetic nervous system activation.

REM helps with forming new neural connections, problem solving, dreaming, blunting emotional responses to painful memories, reading other people’s facial emotions, and neonatal synaptogenesis. REM sleep is the only time during the 24-hour period when your brain is completely devoid of noradrenaline – an anxiety-triggering molecule.
“Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason.”

How much is enough sleep?
Unfortunately, your mind cannot accurately sense how sleep-deprived it is when it is sleep-deprived. So, how do you know whether or not you are getting enough sleep?

If you didn’t set an alarm clock, would you wake up on time?
Do you find yourself re-reading things?
Can you function optimally before noon without caffeine?

Research reveals that the “sweet spot” for optimal sleep is 7 – 9 hours per night.

Are You A Morning Lark or Night Owl?
The research of Matthew Walker and other experts in the field of sleep reveals that we are designed to sleep. In fact, from the moment you wake up, your body progressively produces adenosine which makes you feel sleepy. We fight that with caffeine which causes a build up of adenosine and when the caffeine wears off, you experience a crash – extreme fatigue and sleepiness.

We all have a circadian rhythm – a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. There are some people who are morning types (early risers – 40% of the population) while others are night owls who naturally stay up late (30% of the population) and a third group who drifts into both morning and night types. Again, 7-9 hours of sleep is needed regardless of whether or not you are a morning or night-type person.

Finally, many people suffer from insomnia or poor sleep: Read here to learn the 17 tips on how to improve your sleep and thus, improve your health. You will be shocked about the impact marijuana actually has on your sleep.

If you need help to overcome subconscious issues or other life challenges that are preventing you from sleeping, book a one-on-one session with me. 

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I wish you the best and remind you “Believe in yourself -You deserve the best!”

Patrick Wanis Ph.D.
Celebrity Life Coach, Human Behavior & Relationship Expert & SRTT Therapist