College starts, and with it, the days where all you want to do is sleep, but “duty calls”. Gag. Professors start assigning work, piles of homework start accumulating, you have papers to write, exams to study for, laboratories to work on, books to read, and stress begins to creep up into your soul. Then, you start to think that you won’t have time to do any of the things the professors assigned you. That’s when thoughts like this crawl into your mind: “I have to stay up studying, I have to finish this, even if I don’t get sleep tonight or only get two hours of sleep. It doesn’t matter”.
Guess what? Not getting any sleep DOES matter. SURPRISE! Would you like to risk your health by having bad sleeping routines? Would you like to shorten your lifespan? By not getting enough rest for both your body and mind, you take the risk of debilitating yourself both physically and mentally.
According to Healthline, “Studies have compared 24-hour wakefulness to having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10 percent. This is above the legal limit to drive in most states”. This is real. This is not a joke.
Sleep deprivation can lead to low emotional conditions, hallucinations, and overthinking caused by insomnia. When your mind and body are tired, you start to feel lonely and see things from a more negative perspective, leading to depression.
Sleeping less than six hours for several days in a row can cause symptoms for prediabetes, even if you’re a healthy young adult. Not only can you develop prediabetes, but the chances of developing heart disease, which can also lead to a heart stroke, increase.
Not getting enough sleep can damage your metabolism and alter the hormones that affect the balance of your appetite increasing in its stead. The imaginary scale can suddenly tip to the ‘weight gain’ side as a consequence of insomnia.
These three risks, along with many other symptoms, can appear due to lack of sleep and bad sleeping habits. You should always look on the bright side: if you’re able to get your rest, it will help you stay focused throughout the day, spike up your energy, and help your brain retain the information you’ve acquired better. Studies have also shown that people who put their health first and get the sleep they need do better on tests than people who don’t. Therefore, please take care of yourself and be happy. The key to getting more rest is learning how to balance your time and organize your list of priorities.
So, please, please, please, get some sleep.