We’ve all felt the effects of a poor night’s rest—the foggy brain, the mood swings, the nodding off in work meetings. It happens to all of us from time to time, but it’s also up to each of us to make sure that it doesn’t happen all the time, because continued sleep deprivation can have a massive negative impact on your body, inside and out.
To go deeper on sleep deprivation, we summoned the wisdom of clinical psychologist and leading sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus, for more on how missing sleep negatively affects your body. We’ll start with the superficial stuff, and then move inward. Then, we’ll even go into how you can improve your “sleep hygiene” in a few key steps.
Sleep Deprivation’s Toll on Your Appearance
Appearance isn’t everything, obviously, but it’s one of the most evident ways to clock sleep deprivation—either in ourselves or in one another. Here, Breus spells out the superficial ways that a lack of sleep can impair the body.
Because your body repairs itself while you sleep, a lack of rest significantly sets back your cellular turnover and superficial processes. We need a good rest to heal wounds (even small ones, like acne marks), or to keep skin buoyant and firm. This helps prevent everything from dark circles to hyperpigmentation, from puffy eyes to fine lines. On top of that, our skin becomes far less resilient, firm, and bright over time, hence why Breus says a poor night’s rest looks a lot more harsh on an older individual than a younger one.
“Sleep induces the production of collagen, a key ingredient in firm, youthful skin,” Breus says. “Also, the skin’s capacity to hold water is enhanced by sleep, thereby keeping skin moisturized and supple.” So, while a good night’s sleep can make a difference at any age, it’s all the more imperative as we age, if we want to encourage proper cellular repair and elasticity. Oh, and one more thing on the topic of healing, adds Breus: “Poor sleepers also take longer to recover from sunburns and other environmental and stress-related skin damage.”
Lastly, if you are acne-prone, then note that a lack of sleep increases cortisol levels in the body, which in turn kick starts your sebum production. More sebum yields more clogged pores, hence more acne.
Tiredness is a form of stress, and stress increases cortisol levels in your body. This can lead to premature hair shedding, in terms of your strands’ natural growth cycles, which is something that grew common with Covid-19 recovery. While stress-induced shedding can often be regrown, chronic sleep loss can cause irreparable damage on your follicles, in that they routinely grow back thinner.
So, in line with one key aspect of hair retention: You need to minimize stress if you want strong, thick strands. On top of that, if your body is rested, you’ll have better blood flow. Your follicles will receive more nutrients and oxygen from this, and as a result, will grow stronger and stay anchored longer.
Breus points to a 2008 study which found that “exhausted adults who sleep less than their peers are more likely to be overweight,” he says. Secondly, a 2019 study found that solid sleep must be routine: “Making up for sleep debt by sleeping in during the weekend has no counter effects on weight gain,” he says of the study. “So, people who want to maintain a lower weight may want to consider making sleep a nightly priority.”
That’s not all. He says that further studies have proven sleep deprivation directly affects the levels of two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, which are closely tied to hunger and weight. “Levels of ghrelin, the so-called “hunger hormone”, increase, stimulating your appetite,” he says. “The counterpart to ghrelin is leptin, a hormone that the body uses to tell your brain that you’re full. Leptin levels decrease when you’re tired, making it harder to stop eating even once you’re satiated.”
Funny enough, people who want to gain weight or mass will also need to rely on sleep in order to do so effectively and in the most healthy way possible. “Sleep impacts your body’s ability to repair and gain muscle,’ he says. “Researchers found that sleep deprivation improved weight lifters’ endurance and weight capacity when training.” And here’s the best news of all: You sleep better when you stay active, so it’s a beneficial cycle in which to find yourself.
Other Negative Impacts of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation can make a significant, sometimes irreversible dent in your health and wellness. Besides the superficial stuff—which is all directly tied to your health, too—here are ways that sleep deprivation sets you back.
We hope you remember every tidbit from this article, but if not, maybe you could use an extra hour each night. “Sleep directly impacts our ability to retain and learn new information,” says Breus. “It also gives your brain enough time to build neurological connections, a key factor in both memory and cognition, enhancing your ability to learn and remember when you’re awake.”
Chances are, if you are suffering from depression (like the hundreds of millions worldwide), then you also experience some kind of insomnia—it’s some 80% of depresses individuals, one study found. And insomnia only worsens with age, warns Breus.
Similarly, anxiety disorders can keep you awake at night—but of course, a wandering mind is like a shot of espresso at bedtime. Even worse, Brues notes, is that sleep deprivation can then trigger or exacerbate the symptoms of anxiety.” It’s a bad cycle, and one you’ve got to break.
Breus points to breakthroughs in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a way to treat symptoms of both insomnia and anxiety. And for the latter, he recommends-low impact movements, like yoga or tai chi. “These and other relaxation exercises can easily be integrated into sleep routines, helping to both manage anxiety and increase the likelihood of a good night’s rest.”
We buried the lede on this one: The more you lay down and snooze, the more likely you are to get laid. “Sleeping just one hour more each night makes a person 14% more likely to engage in sex with a partner the next day,” Breus says. “Although sleeping longer can reduce genital arousal, those with longer sleep durations on a night-to-night basis report higher arousal levels than those with shorter sleep durations.”
Interestingly enough, and to counter the above, some studies prove that short-term sleep deprivation can in fact make you experience elevated feelings of sexual arousal. “However, sleep deprivation does not appear to be related to greater sexual frequency. This means you may feel more sexual arousal after losing sleep, but not be more likely to engage in sex with a partner.”
There’s a reason a good night’s sleep can be the difference between feeling like garbage and feeling renewed. “Sleep is essential for the proper functioning of the immune system, which protects the body from potentially harmful substances,” explains Breus. “Sleep deprivation can alter how quickly and effectively the immune system responds to threats, making it harder to fight off infections that would typically be easily controlled.”
How to Get a Better Night’s Sleep
Here are a few simple tips for getting better sleep, starting tonight.
If you make changes but problems persist (for three nights a week, for longer three weeks, says Breus) then you should contact your general physician and inquire about seeing a sleep specialist.
First, identify your obstacles
Some of the bigger roadblocks to sleep (like anxiety and depression) require therapy and time to improve. However, there are a few everyday habits and vices that may also be hindering a good night’s sleep. Breus’ list of primary offenders include dehydration, alcohol intake, caffeine intake, inconsistent bed/wake times, and your particular sleep environment (be it the room, the bed, any people or animals, the temperature, etc.) Take audit of what might be hindering your sleep, and make fixes accordingly.
Then, build a 5-step plan
This is the checklist Breus recommends for better sleep hygiene on the regular. It involves proper buffers for caffeine, alcohol, and exercise, and also focuses on jumpstarting your day properly.
- Wake up every day based on your chronotype (your body’s natural inclination to sleep at a specific time — that quiz will help pinpoint yours)
- Stop consuming caffeine by 2 p.m.
- Stop consuming alcohol three hours before bed
- Exercise daily, but stop exercise four hours before bed
- When you wake up, take 15 deep breaths, drink 15 oz. of water, and get 15 minutes of sunlight (ideally outside)
