The rhythm of life that we lead today, increasingly faster, ends up generating a great level of stress. When this is joined by worries and anxiety arising from problems that we cannot solve, one of the most common consequences of this is usually the inability to fall asleep and sleep the eight hours that, at least, experts advise that we should devote to this activity to keep us in perfect health.
But the lack of sleep has no effect only on a physical level, but because our brain is also affected by it, we also notice it mentally and emotionally. This happens because it is during this period when our mind rests, so the effects of lack of sleep are more intense when more time passes without allowing our brain to rest enough hours. But, exactly, how does the lack of sleep affect the brain?
Effects of lack of sleep in the brain
Irritability is the first sign in case of lack of sleep, although the degree of it will also depend on our personality, if we are calm or nervous and our age. The lack of sleep produces exhaustion in the nervous system, and this results in our tolerance threshold being lower.
We can also feel disoriented, while we find it very difficult to maintain attention and concentration. But, without a doubt, the most serious consequence is that, when we do not sleep enough, certain regions of the cerebral cortex compensate for the lack of sleep by “turning off” even though we are awake, as if taking a nap, and this blackout can greatly affect measure to our intellectual performance.
It is these “blackouts” that lead us to experience the lapses of attention, the impossibility of issuing an objective judgment on a situation, and the tendency to make more mistakes than when we have slept the necessary hours, which translates into a greater number of accidents, especially when we perform activities that require being alert as driving.
This article is purely informative, we do not have the faculty to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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