Scientists from England and the Netherlands observe that sleep deprivation has the same effect on an individual’s immune system as extreme physical stress, and can cause a number of debilitating health problems over time.

Prior studies demonstrated a link between sleep deprivation and the development of certain health risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. Other studies showed the immune system responding significantly better when an individual experienced adequate sleep.

Getting your Teen To Get More Sleep

Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation are serious at any age, but in teenagers the effects can be detrimental to physical and cognitive development.

Parents of teenagers know all too well the challenges of getting their teens to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and waking them in the morning. Most teenagers need about nine hours of sleep a night to maintain optimal daytime alertness. But few teenagers actually get that much sleep. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of School of Health reported that less than 10% of teenagers get the recommended nine hours of sleep they require.

If you have sleep apnea, or sleep disordered breathing you know that it’s a problem that needs to be taken seriously. Not only is sleep apnea one of the most detrimental sleep problems that can effect someone in the short term, recent studies show very serious long term cognitive effects as well.

A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims that aside from diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes, sleep apnea may be one of the causes of dementia.

This link of sleep apnea and dementia can be explained through hypoxemia, which is a drop of oxygen levels in the blood, often caused by the obstruction of breathing that is the main symptom of sleep apnea.

Are you always sleepy? The effects of sleep deprivation can lead to many negative consequences, especially if the reason behind it is a constant and biological condition. Don’t just live with exhaustion, participate in some Sleep Studies to identify the problem. Participating in a Sleep Study will help diagnose the reason behind your sleep deprivation by identifying sleep disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea.