What will happen if you don't get enough sleep: scientists name a serious consequence

Sometimes it seems that just 30 minutes of sleep deprivation will not affect your health and well-being. However, scientists recently conducted a study that refuted this idea completely.

Airborne anxiety, sleepless nights, and difficult news deplete physical and mental health and often lead to sleep deprivation. Study Finds explains how even a slight lack of sleep can have long-term consequences for our cardiovascular system.

The "gold standard" for sleep is 7-8 hours. However, busy schedules, nighttime anxiety, and other aspects of life force us to adjust our sleep patterns. Scientists from Columbia University (New York) have found that reduced sleep increases the risk of cardiovascular disease over time. So if you are constantly sleep-deprived, it is a reason to think about your health.

One of the authors of the study, Dr. Sanja Jelic, said that scientists have recently discovered a link between healthy sleep and heart health. This has been discussed in scientific papers before, but only now have researchers been able to find direct evidence.

Previous studies have generally identified the consequences of prolonged insomnia: what happens if you don't sleep for several nights, etc. However, the Columbia University study aimed to determine what happens when people get just an hour (or even less) of sleep than normal.

Scientists worked with a group of women who usually sleep for 7-8 hours. The study lasted for 12 weeks, during the first half of which women went to bed 1.5 hours later, and the rest of the time they followed their usual sleep schedule.

Sleep monitoring bracelets helped to record changes in the body. Within 6 weeks after the study began, the blood vessels of women who were constantly experiencing a lack of sleep began to be exposed to harmful oxidants. These cells can cope with oxidants and neutralize them on their own under normal conditions.

With lack of sleep, the cells begin to show signs of inflammation and dysfunction, and this can be the first sign of problems with the cardiovascular system. That is, if you do not get enough sleep for several hours a day when you are young, it can lead to heart disease and increase the risk of heart complications in the future.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA explained whether coffee really saves from lack of sleep.

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