can you die from sleep deprivation can you die from sleep deprivation

Can You Die From Sleep Deprivation? 5 Essential Facts

Good sleep, regular exercise, and a proper diet are essential for maintaining good health. Inadequate sleep puts you at an increased risk of various health problems and mental health issues. Not only does it affect your work efficiency, but it might also lead to the deterioration of personal and social relationships. Can you die from sleep deprivation?

True, sleep deprivation is a widespread problem that might adversely impact one’s mental and physical health. But what is the worst-case scenario? What might it eventually lead to? Can lack of sleep ever prove fatal1?

What are some of the health problems caused by poor sleep? How to overcome the issues related to inadequate sleep? Read on as we try to answer such questions about sleep deprivation for you.

1. How Much Sleep is Adequate Sleep?

To understand sleep deprivation better, we should first know how much sleep one needs daily for the healthy functioning of the mind and body.

The adequate amount of sleep required by individual changes with age. While an infant requires 14 hours of sleep on average, older kids and pre-teens can function on 10 hours of sleep.

Teenagers need a minimum of 8 hours of sleep, and adults can usually function with 7 hours. However, it is not just the duration of sleep that should be taken into account but also the quality of sleep. If you don’t get restful sleep, it completely defeats the purpose.

Some factors that might affect sleep quality include room temperature, disturbances, sleep apnea2, and uncomfortable bedding.

Understanding our sleep cycle: REM and non-REM sleep

2. How Long Can You Go Without Sleep?

For different reasons, it is not always possible to get proper sleep. While insufficient sleep wouldn’t do anything more than affect your productivity in the short run, it might have several harmful consequences if it continues for a long period.

If you continue getting inadequate sleep for 1 week, you will notice the effects of severe sleep deprivation on your health.

So while you might want to pull an all-nighter once in a while to get something on your priority list done, doing so regularly will only harm your productivity, mood, and overall physical and mental state.

Can you die from sleep deprivation?
Image by Sander Sammy from Unsplash © 2021

3. What Might Happen if You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?

You will feel grouchy3, yes. It will affect your focus and ability to work. But all this would eventually subside you catch up on sleep or even get a quick shut-eye, right?

However, a lack of sleep for a few nights might lead to more complicated problems requiring medical intervention.

If you do not get enough sleep for one night, you might experience mood swings, lethargy, muscular tension, and an inability to concentrate.

However, prolonged sleep deprivation, say for 36 hours, can cause hormonal changes that, in turn, lead to even more fatigue4, loss of judgment, and low motivation. These symptoms will only worsen if you go without sleep for longer.

Apart from seriously disturbing your sleep cycle, going without sleep for more than 72 hours can potentially have serious consequences. Therefore, it is best to consult a healthcare professional in such cases.

What would happen if you didn’t sleep? - Claudia Aguirre

4. Causes and Types of Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation need not always have a specific internal cause. You can very well experience sleep loss while working on an important deadline or due to an uncomfortable or unfamiliar environment.

However, one internal cause that might trigger sleep deprivation is an illness. If you have mild insomnia or sleep apnea, you are bound to experience sleep deprivation.

Other conditions that might cause it include age-related physical problems, cognitive impairment5, neurodegenerative dise6ase, and mental health issues like depression or schizophrenia.

Sleep deprivation can be classified into several types depending on duration and intensity.

4.1 Partial Sleep Deprivation

This type of sleep deprivation is caused due to reduced sleep time in the short run. It might also be affected by the quality of sleep.

If you fail to get as much sleep as your body needs for healthy functioning, you will experience the symptoms of partial sleep deprivation, such as fogged memory, mood swings, and constant tiredness.

4.2 Chronic Sleep Deprivation

If it continues for longer, partial sleep deprivation will turn into chronic sleep7 deprivation. Being in sleep debt for longer periods will eventually lead to adverse effects.

Chronic sleep deprivation can cause medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, seizures, and a general decrease in immunity.

5. Can You Die from Sleep Deprivation?

Despite being harmful to your health, prolonged sleep deprivation cannot kill you directly. But the effects of sleep deprivation increase the risk of premature death, causing accidents, and its health consequences can also prove fatal.

It is not surprising that driving when sleep-deprived increases your chances of falling asleep behind the wheel, no matter how hard you try to stay awake. Therefore, car crashes form one of the reasons causing death by sleep deprivation.

Apart from this, the loss of concentration caused by lack of sleep might also be a cause of accidents.

Lack of sleep often causes weight gain in people. Therefore, obesity and related problems are very common among people who don’t get enough sleep.

Heart disease is one of the most common effects of severe sleep deprivation and subsequent weight gain on your body. So while you might not die from lack of sleep, cardiovascular disease will surely prove fatal.

car crash
Image by Per Loov From Unsplash © 2019

6. How to Overcome Insufficient Sleep?

If you feel you have not been getting enough sleep, the only way to avoid total sleep deprivation is to compensate for the lost sleep.

The first step towards this is understanding the reason behind the sleep-deprived state. Once you identify the problem, you can take the required steps to get over the sleep debt.

However, it is also important to understand that important work or world record attempts are not the only reason behind a sleep-deprived state. Insufficient sleep might also result from underlying conditions for which you must consult your healthcare provider.

You might be able to make up for the sleep debt after a few wakeful nights, but the complete inability to fall asleep despite trying should cause worry. What also must be considered is that nothing beats proper sleep at night, not even daytime naps.

Some habits, if taught properly, can help ensure a good and restful sleep at night. There are some things you can try if you lack sleep.

6.1 Comfortable Surroundings

Make sure that the environment is comfortable enough. After all, nothing beats your own space and your bedroom.

The quality of mattresses and pillows also impacts restful sleep. Therefore, make sure that the room temperature is not uncomfortable. Try to block any noise that might disturb you while sleeping.

6.2 Consistency and Punctuality

It is also essential to fix a specific time to sleep. There will be days when you can’t go to bed on time because of work, but there will also be ones when you don’t go to bed on time as you might not feel the need to.

Both these kinds of situations can seriously hamper your sleep cycle. So make it a point to get consistent and timely sleep at night.

If, due to whatever reasons, you disrupt your sleep cycle and cannot fall asleep at night, try tiring yourself out. Engaging in rigorous physical or even mental activities might help with this.

6.3 Eating Habits

Your eating habits also significantly impact the quality of sleep. For example, blood alcohol levels affect one’s consciousness and sleep quality.

Similarly, food and beverages with high sugar content will only increase your energy levels, making it difficult to fall asleep.

Caffeine also significantly spikes your energy levels. Therefore, it is best to avoid caffeine intake in the evening.

6.4 Screen Time

Melatonin and other similar hormones aid us in getting restful sleep. The production of such hormones increases in a dark and relaxed environment.

However, prolonged exposure to blue light emitted from electronic devices after dark causes the brain to decrease melatonin production. This leads to the brain’s inability to relax, preventing you from falling asleep.

While it is always best to reduce screen time after dark to prevent this, we understand that it is not always possible.

Other steps to reduce blue light exposure include wearing blue light-blocking glasses or installing applications to block this light from electronics.

screen time
Image by Brett Jordan from Unsplash © 2020

6.5 Supplements

If you find it difficult to fall asleep or feel that your sleep is not relaxing enough, you can go for melatonin supplements.

Not only does it ensure deep and relaxing sleep, but it is also not very difficult to get off it, as there are no withdrawal symptoms. It is a go-to for people who have insomnia.

However, it is advisable to consult a health care provider before taking melatonin supplements to understand the proper dosage required depending on how long you have been sleeping deprived.

While melatonin ensures better sleep, you do not need a melatonin supplement initially. There are other herbal alternatives you can try as well.

So if you are having difficulty sleeping, you can try herbal supplements like lavender, ginkgo Biloba, or valerian root before jumping to melatonin.

BEST Tips For Getting Better Sleep Before You Try Taking Melatonin Supplements

7. The Bottom Line

Lack of sleep cannot kill you directly, but its consequences can surely prove fatal. Now that you know if you can die from sleep deprivation or not, share what you know with your friends. Also, don’t forget to let us know your views in the comments below.

  1. Zhou, Yue, et al. “Comorbidities and the risk of severe or fatal outcomes associated with coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” International Journal of Infectious Diseases 99 (2020): 47-56. ↩︎
  2. Gottlieb, Daniel J., and Naresh M. Punjabi. “Diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea: a review.” Jama 323.14 (2020): 1389-1400. ↩︎
  3. Mahon, Paula, et al. “Positive effects of ultrasound‐guided peripheral IV insertion on pediatric sickle cell anemia/thalassemia patients receiving automated red cell exchange procedures or chronic transfusion therapy.” Journal of Clinical Apheresis 36.1 (2021): 143-148. ↩︎
  4. Ceban, Felicia, et al. “Fatigue and cognitive impairment in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Brain, behavior, and immunity 101 (2022): 93-135. ↩︎
  5. Ceban, Felicia, et al. “Fatigue and cognitive impairment in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Brain, behavior, and immunity 101 (2022): 93-135. ↩︎
  6. Hansson, Oskar. “Biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases.” Nature medicine 27.6 (2021): 954-963. ↩︎
  7. Mishra, Ila, et al. “Chemical sympathectomy reduces peripheral inflammatory responses to acute and chronic sleep fragmentation.” American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 318.4 (2020): R781-R789. ↩︎

Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology

Author

Riddhi
  1. Yup great article again. This is the best tip and the secret behind the muscle build and great health. SLEEP. If you are sleeping for 7 quality hours half of the health issues will automatically go away.

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