Going to bed late can actually harm your mental health. This has been revealed in a recent study that has been published in the Journal of Behavioral Psychiatry. Well, there are many reasons for you should avoid sleeping late, but the most primary reason is the damage it is causing to your mental health. The study was conducted on healthy adults where contrasting results were found between individuals who maintained a healthy sleep schedule and those who were sleep deprived.

So, night owls better beware! Your sleep schedule can be a scare within no time…

Findings of the study

Going to bed late at night increases the risk of developing anxiety and depression. The study findings state that the individual adults who were sleep deprived faced psychiatric disorders like higher levels of anxiety, symptoms of depression and an overall emotional distress as compared to the ones who had a healthy sleep schedule. It also suggests that even if a person doesn’t have any existing mental health issues, an inadequate sleep can negatively impact emotional well-being.

The study critically emphasizes on the significance of maintaining a consistent and healthy sleep schedule in order to have a good mental health. Sleep deprived individuals respond to certain situations with a temporarily high level of anxiety. They are more depression prone and are distressed usually.

How lack of sleep affects the mental health

An adult of age 18-60 years needs 7-8 hours of sleep. If you are not having it, then it is a matter of concern. The plenty of ways you will observe sleep affecting your mental health are as follows:

Mood and behavior changes

Your mood can show signs of irritability and as said before the feelings of anxiety and depression. Moreover, you may develop anger issues. When you don’t get enough sleep, you are likely to lose control over your emotions where they are not able to process and manage them.

Unusual behavior will soon take over you, with an increase in impulsiveness, hyperactivity, agitation and frequent emotional outbursts.

Stress

This stress only goes to the extreme, taking the form of depression. People do have some sort of minor stress issues, but with poor sleep they are not able to even handle it at such a minute level. Even daily occurrences of the day can lead to frustration, because of sleep deprivation.

Cognitive effects

The brain functioning is at risk. The results are soon visible in the work that you do. Lack of sleep makes things hard for a person to memorize, to remember. And in some cases, people are not able to form new memories only. Further, affecting your learning.

More, the people can have a risk of suicidal ideation.

Risk of cardiovascular diseases

Sleep surely affects the cardiovascular system. A good sleep helps in building the new blood vessels and also helps in maintaining the blood pressure, sugar levels and inflammation control. And when you do not get enough sleep, it increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Also, people can have a poor immune system, fertility issues and even hormonal problems. Some of them become overweight too. And for the women, no remedy works for the dark circles, unless you fix your sleep schedules. And the frequent headaches, they are also a result of this only.

Thus, in order to maintain an emotional balance and furthermore, the well-being; switch to an improved sleep schedule. Because, the impact of sleep has some dangerous symptoms for the mental health. Stay away from anxiety and depression by incorporating healthy sleep habits. Fix your sleep science now, to stay healthy and happy in the long run!