Sleep science – Decoding Sleep Deprivation

There are two instances that get me in a cranky mood: a bad night’s sleep and skipping my morning coffee. Sure I can pull the occasional all-nighters catching up with what new on Netflix, but you can only stay up for so many nights. The less you sleep, the more your functionality begins to breakdown. Sleep is an essential reboot that everyone needs. When you continuously miss out on this reboot, you become sleep deprived, and moodiness rears its ugly head. Understanding the problem is the first step to solving it. Like many others, you may suffer from sleep deprivation and don’t know what to do. Take a look at this tell-all on sleep deprivation.
General symptoms and effects of sleep deprivation
Mood changes
Sometimes we accuse people of being mean or unapproachable without realizing the reason behind their moodiness. I cannot tell you how many times I have snapped on account of a sleepless night. Research suggests that sleep deprivation is associated with a variety of mood changes including anger, irritability or frustration. Mood changes aren’t aroused solely by your environment; they can be your body’s way of telling you something is not right. You might find yourself crying over nothing and not really understand why. Getting the right kind of sleep for a reasonable duration should help regulate hormones, your state of mind and other mood influencing factors that are aggravated by sleeplessness.
Inhibited learning and concentrating
One of the worst effects of sleep deprivation is the changes to your cognitive abilities. You need your brain at top speeds to take up new information and concepts. If you are sleep deprived, you mid finds it hard to understand what your professor is trying to say let alone come up with a new concept for your sales campaign. No wonder my parents made me go to bed early throughput my school years. Children and young adults especially need their cognitive and learning abilities in top shape for .
Fatigue
I recently learned about the concept of sleep debt. It is the cumulative effect of insufficient sleep. When you fail to get the recommended amount of sleep, your body begins to accumulate sleep debt. The higher your debt grows, the more worn down and fatigued your body becomes. This may be the reason you’re feeling mentally and physically tired throughout the day. Sleep deprivation increases this debt and continues to propagate the vicious cycle.
What is causing you to be derived?
When you understand why you cannot catch some zzz’s then fixing the problem becomes relatively easy. Surprisingly not all your sleeping troubles are caused by innate factors. Sure you might be stressed or battling some conditions that interfere with a good night’s sleep, but your environment plays a role too. Sleep environments can mess up or promote sleep in an individual.  
Know when to see a doctor
You can stay up a night or two, texting your new crush or doing research for your new job but there are limits to sleeplessness. Staying up the whole week without a wink of sleep is a whole other issue. Maybe you wake up often and cannot get back to sleep. Considering the value of sleep on our mental and physical capabilities, you should seek professional help if your sleep deprived state becomes increasingly dire. Waiting to see if the problem will go away is the wrong way to combat your body’s cry for help. A doctor can narrow down the causes and check to see if you have any underlying conditions manifesting through sleeplessness.
Easy ways to remedy sleep deprivation
The best way to combat sleep deprivation is to get some sleep. Addressing issues with your physical and mental state and the environment will help reduce instances of sleeplessness and improved the deprived condition you are in. Take a look at these easy ways you can combat sleep deprivation
Encourage sleep-conducive environments
Yes, this is a real thing. A pleasant environment will help you fall asleep faster and keep you asleep longer. Your environment includes not only your bed but also the temperatures and lights in your room. The best environment for sleep should be a cool dark quiet room, with a supportive mattress and breathable bedding. You may invest in a thermostat or fan to help maintain acceptable temperatures as you sleep. Proper window treatments should keep away lights that may interfere with bringing on and maintaining sleep. Many of us have the unfortunate habit of using phones and other light emitting gadgets that harm our sleep and fuel the sleeplessness monster in our heads.
P.S On the issue of the mattress
A mattress can make or break your night. Ideally, you want your bed to not only be comfortable but support your body and all your sleep habits. This includes sleep positions, sleep-related conditions, and all the works. Poor mattresses often encourage disrupted sleep which contributes to sleep deprivation. Finding the best mattress for your sleep requirements is one of the best ways to improve your sleep behavior. Don’t have one already? tulo offers a variety of options with different firmness levels to suit every sleeper.  
Make some lifestyle changes
Regular exercising and healthy eating habits can improve your ability to fall asleep quickly and keep you in that state. You don’t need to go to the gym 20 times a week or exclusively eat seaweed. Small changes to your diet such as cutting down on saturated fats in fast food, caffeine and alcohol consumption might help mitigate some of your sleep issues. Some light exercise is great to tire your body and help you fall asleep faster naturally.
Develop a sleep plan
Your body’s internal clock usually determines when to sleep or wake up. You may want to condition your body to need sleep at a certain time in the night and wake up at another time. This way, you find yourself getting drowsy as your bedtime approaches and waking up consistently. A good sleep plan should assist in getting you down and rising up consistently.  
Final word
When you are in a sleep deprived state, your body cannot function at 100%. You find yourself in terrible moods, in an exhausted state and unable to accomplish much during the day. It is important that you understand why you are sleepless and how you can combat this deprivation by getting your sleep back. You should go all out to ensure your body is getting enough sleep, even if it means getting a new mattress.