Sleep Deprivation

• • research on sleep deprivation has provided insights in to our need for sleep and the purpose for sleep.
  • Defn = going without sleep, loss of sleep.
  • There are different effects for different types of sleep loss. Sleep deprivation falls into 2 categories:
• 1. Partial sleep deprivation - involves having less than what is normally required. Mood (increase in negative emotions), Attention (inability to focus, difficulty maintaining concentration), Reflex speed (slowed reflexes), Vision (drooping eyelids, staring into space inability to focus eyes) - syllabus points.
• 1. Chronic sleep deprivation - involves not having any sleep at all.

  • in studying sleep deprivation, researchers investigate psychological and physiological effects of sleep loss. They may study general sleep loss, or REM and NREM sleep loss, but also sleep recovery patterns following sleep loss because it provides insights into sleep patterns, sleep functions and other aspects of sleep.”
• Generally, partial sleep loss over relatively short periods gave temporary and relatively minor physiological and psychological effects
• We can recover from sleep loss effects if the accrued sleep debt is repaid
• Many psychologists believe that most people underestimate the effects of partial sleep loss over prolonged periods
• In cases where someone has a large sleep debt

  They are at high risk of some accident because of poor judgement
• Driving when tired is a major cause of fatal car accidents
• Significant psychological effects of prolonged sleep deprivation

  • Anxiety disorders
  • Depression
  • Sleep disorders
  • Hallucinations
  • Delusions
  • Paranoia
• Consistently experienced psychological effects of prolonged chronic sleep deprivation

  • Sleepiness
  • Fatigue
  • Hand tremors
  • Drooping eyelids
  • Slurred speech
• After excessive chronic sleep deprivation (e.g., 5 days of being awake), the heart and respiratory systems begin to be slower
• The person will develop hypertension (high blood pressure) which causes wear and tear on the heart and can lead to heart disease
• Health issues associated with chronic sleep deprivation

  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Some forms of cancer
  • Acceleration of aging
• Data suggests that sleep disruption affects glycemic, or blood sugar levels
• A lack of sleep can make it more difficult for the body to process sugar, contributing to glucose intolerance
• Sleep deprivation can create an imbalance in the hormones that regulate your appetite
• Hormones that regulate appetite

  • Ghrelin
  • Leptin
• Leptin


  Helps you feel full
• Ghrelin


  Makes you feel hungry
• Leptin levels typically rise during sleep
• If you aren’t getting enough sleep

  Your Leptin levels decrease, so you feel hungrier and are, therefore, likelier to eat excessively and gain weight
• Research indicates that anxiety may affect vivid dreaming during REM sleep
• Anxiety can provoke nightmares and disturbing dreams that create a higher likelihood of sleep disruptions
• Anxiety may reinforce fear around going to sleep
• Microsleep -

  • a microsleep lasts for a very very brief period and the individual has no recollection that they even has one.
  • Research studies done on sleep deprivation have found that we do nor need to fully compensate for the lost hours of sleep to restore our physiological and psychological wellbeing. Most people make up for lost sleep getting an extra few hotties of sleep over the next few nights.
  • Interestingly, people who get 7-8 hours of sleep at night tend to outlive those who are chronically deprived.
  • When we are sick we typically sleep more, boosting our immune cells.