Sleep deprivation occurs when a person doesn’t get enough quality sleep. A lack of quality sleep may be due to not sleeping for enough hours or not sleeping soundly enough. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea can interrupt the sleeper’s progression through the sleep stages, causing fragmented and non-restorative sleep.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of American adults don’t get enough sleep. We’ll examine the causes and symptoms of sleep deprivation and discuss ways to improve sleep.
Identifying and Diagnosing Sleep Deprivation
After not sleeping enough for a night or two, a person may display obvious signs of sleep deprivation, such as:
- Trouble concentrating
- Poor coordination
- Irritability or mood swings
- Feeling tired
- Feeling less alert, particularly during boring activities
Over a longer period of sleep deprivation, many people mistakenly believe they have adjusted to getting less sleep and aren’t being negatively affected by it. But, sensitive tests may still show that a sleep-deprived person has worse performance compared with a well-rested person.
When someone displays symptoms of sleep deprivation due to not obtaining enough sleep over a period of at least three months, doctors may diagnose them with “insufficient sleep syndrome”.
To verify how many hours a person is sleeping, doctors may ask them to keep a sleep log for a few weeks or use actigraphy, which monitors movements, to verify how long and how well they are sleeping. Symptoms of insufficient sleep syndrome usually disappear once the person has caught up on sleep.
Causes of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation has many potential causes, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to health conditions.
- Not enough time to sleep: Work, social, and family responsibilities may take away time from sleep, particularly for shift workers and those who work long or irregular hours. Students often have trouble sleeping enough, since many young people have a natural tendency to sleep late that conflicts with early school start times.
- Stress: Stressors such as loss of a loved one or career troubles can make it difficult to sleep soundly.
- Substance use: Substances including caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and certain illegal drugs can all interfere with sleep, particularly if taken close to bedtime.
- Environmental factors: It may be difficult to soundly if a bedroom is too warm, the mattress and bedding are uncomfortable, or the person is exposed to light or sound while trying to sleep. The blue light from an electronic screen can interfere with sleep if used too close to bedtime.
- Napping: Napping too late in the day can make it harder to fall asleep at night.
- Medical conditions: Mental and physical health conditions, particularly those that cause pain, often affect sleep quality. Medications used to treat these disorders may also have the unwanted side effect of disrupting sleep.
- Sleep disorders: Sleep disorders can impact a person’s ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or sleep soundly. For example, restless legs syndrome and sleep apnea interfere with sleep quality, so that someone may feel tired even after sleeping the whole night. By contrast, someone with insomnia may feel tired yet be unable to fall asleep when given the opportunity. This may result in short sleep, with the accompanying symptoms.
Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep health is a fundamental component of overall health, and a lack of sleep can have noticeable consequences.
- Cognitive function: Sleep deprivation causes slowed reaction times and hampers your ability to focus and stay alert, especially during monotonous activities. Even one night of short sleep can make it difficult to carry out complex mental tasks or make good decisions. The increased risk of making errors can be dangerous if you are driving or if you work a safety-sensitive job.
- Mood swings: On an emotional level, sleep deprivation is associated with feeling depressed, anxious, and irritable. People who are short on sleep may display low energy and a decreased sex drive.
- Microsleeps: When you are really sleepy, you may lapse into brief “microsleeps,” in which you unintentionally fall asleep for only a few seconds. Microsleeps that occur while driving can cause a car crash.
- Immune system functioning: Sleep loss affects your immune system, decreasing your body’s ability to fight infection or to develop a vaccine response.
People who consistently fall short on sleep experience changes to the hormones that control appetite, which may increase the risk of developing obesity or type 2 diabetes. Long-term sleep deprivation affects heart health, raising the risk of stroke and other problems. Consistent failure to obtain enough sleep may also cause long-term changes in the brain and contribute to depression.
Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes multiple lapses in breathing during sleep. The most common type, obstructive sleep apnea, occurs when a sleeper’s airway muscles relax and don’t leave enough room for air to pass through. By contrast, central sleep apnea occurs when the brain fails to send the signal to breathe.
In both types of sleep apnea, the lapses in breathing cause arousals, meaning a person is briefly jolted out of a deeper stage of sleep into a lighter stage of sleep. When arousals occur multiple times over the course of the night, the resulting sleep disruption can cause symptoms of sleep deprivation, including daytime tiredness.
Like sleep deprivation, sleep apnea is associated with a higher risk of chronic health conditions, including high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack. Drowsy driving due to sleep apnea is also a noted contributor to car crashes.
There are a number of effective treatments for sleep apnea. The best treatment for obstructive sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, which blows air through a mask to keep the airway open during sleep. Research indicates that CPAP therapy can improve many symptoms of sleep deprivation, including daytime sleepiness and car crash risk.
Treatment for Sleep Deprivation
When sleep deprivation is simply due to not sleeping enough, a period of catch-up sleep is often enough to reverse the symptoms. You can start by making sleep a priority and carving out more time in your schedule to give yourself the opportunity to meet your sleep goals.
- To help improve your sleep, your doctor may recommend sleep hygiene techniques such as:
- Implementing a bedtime routine and a regular sleep-wake schedule
- Using blackout curtains, a white noise machine, or earplugs if your bedroom lets in light or noise
- Getting out of bed to do a relaxing activity if you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, and returning when you feel sleepy
- Exercising regularly and getting bright light exposure in the morning
If you’re still having trouble sleeping, talk to your doctor. They may refer you to a sleep lab for testing to detect any underlying sleep disorders. Sleep experts treat sleep disorders with a range of techniques, including cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, or special devices to keep the airways open if you have sleep apnea.
Written by
Danielle Pacheco, Staff WriterDanielle is originally from Vancouver, BC, where she has spent many hours staring at her ceiling trying to fall asleep. She channels her frustration into researching sleep solutions and sharing insights with fellow insomniacs. Danielle spends her downtime trying out new recipes and working off the calories on the soccer field. Danielle studied the science of sleep with a degree in psychology at the University of British Columbia
