6 signs that your body needs more sleep

Due to the hustle and bustle of work and study, the signals that the body needs more sleep are often overlooked.

Dull skin

Lack of sleep increases cortisol levels, which breaks down the skin’s structure and inhibits collagen production. As a result, the skin looks dull, lacks elasticity, and develops wrinkles and eye bags early. These things make people who lack sleep look tired and lifeless, according to the health website Healthline (USA).

PHOTO: AI

Snack cravings

Lack of sleep disrupts the hormones that control hunger and satiety, leading to decreased satiety and increased hunger. As a result, sleep-deprived people tend to eat foods high in sugar, fat, and calories, such as cakes, fried foods, and bubble tea.

Meanwhile, dinner with these unhealthy dishes reduces the quality of sleep at night. Foods high in sugar cause blood sugar to spike, then drop rapidly, leading to hunger, making it difficult to sleep. Foods high in fat and oil can easily cause bloating and reflux.

irritable

Lack of sleep damages the prefrontal cortex and over-activates the amygdala, which is responsible for controlling emotions. The result is reduced thinking ability, irritability, fatigue, impatience, or mild depression.

Decreased memory and concentration

A person who lacks sleep will have their body trying to function, move around, and work, but their brain is always tired and wants to rest. This condition has many different manifestations, from reading and rereading a sentence to understanding it, being absent-minded while working, to forgetting the names of acquaintances.

This is because sleep plays an essential role in consolidating short-term memory, focusing, and improving the ability to think flexibly. Lack of sleep causes these functions to be impaired.

Lack of sleep can lead to slow reflexes.

Lack of sleep reduces alertness, leading to slower reflexes, making them more susceptible to collisions or falls. This is especially dangerous when driving or operating machinery, increasing the risk of work-related accidents. If a person is doing mental work instead of manual work, lack of sleep will also significantly reduce information processing efficiency, reaction time, and decision-making speed.

Weakened immune system

Not getting enough sleep weakens the immune system, making the body more susceptible to illness and taking longer to recover. Research in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine shows that people who sleep less than 6 hours a night are at higher risk of catching colds and other infections than those who sleep 7 hours or more, according to Healthline .