Why work late is useless and even harmful

The clock almost at midnight, but it's baby time - still need to finish the project, read the article, and in the morning to jump early to have time to practice. How can I sleep when so much work?

And tomorrow will be even more work, because the four-hour sleep will make itself felt a headache, slow reaction, loss of attention. Work stalled, because you can not concentrate.

So remove the book, pop laptop lid and go to bed, because there is nothing good in lack of sleep. Absolutely no benefit - not a crumb, not a drop, not a gram.

That lack of sleep does to the body

• Just one sleepless night affects the immune system about the same as stress. Lack of sleep reduces the concentration of white blood cells, so that you become vulnerable to infectionsDiurnal rhythms in blood cell populations and the effect of acute sleep deprivation in healthy young men..
• One sleepless night increases blood pressureEffects of insufficient sleep on blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a 24-h study.. If you suffer from hypertension, even half of the night without sleep will raise the pressure (due to excitation of the sympathetic nervous system).
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• During sleep, endocrine system works, activated hormones responsible for growth, thermal regulation, and lack of sleep undermines these processes. At the same time changes the circulation of hormones responsible for the feeling of satiety: leptin and ghrelinEffects of insufficient sleep on blood pressure in hypertensive patients.. This leads to a constant hunger and imperceptible weight gain.
• Week little lack of sleep (six hours of sleep a day - this is the lack of sleep, not the norm) increases the production of inflammatory cytokine proteinsEffects of recovery sleep after one work week of mild sleep restriction on interleukin-6 and cortisol secretion and daytime sleepiness and performance., Because of what can disrupt the cardiovascular and nervous systems. To at least a little to cope with this effect, a sleep longer on weekends.
• All the same week of the six-hour sleep breaks the transcription of genes involved in the work circadian rhythms, Metabolism and oxidative stressEffects of insufficient sleep on circadian rhythmicity and expression amplitude of the human blood transcriptome..

How lack of sleep affects the brain

One sleepless night reduces coordination and visual reaction speed, as shown by studies conducted in the automotive simulatorsSleep Deprivation Affects Eye-steering Coordination When Driving. .

In the same study, which found growth cytokines due to insomnia, the researchers noticed that three nights is not enough to catch up on sleep. If three consecutive nights sleep for ten hours, the reaction rate does not return to normalEffects of recovery sleep after one work week of mild sleep restriction on interleukin-6 and cortisol secretion and daytime sleepiness and performance..

Chronic lack of sleep spoils the short and long term memory, interferes with decision-making, to concentrate and react to their environmentSleep deprivation: Impact on cognitive performance.

Check if you have enough sleep

scale test of sleepiness Epvorsa

To see if you have enough sleep, pass the test on a scale of sleepiness EpvorsaEpworth Sleepiness Scale. .

Evaluate each situation on a scale of sleepiness.

To assess the situation:

• You sit and read a book.
• You are watching TV.
• You sit quietly in a public place (in a theater or in a meeting).
• You drive an hour in the car (as a passenger).
• You lay down to rest after lunch.
• You sit with someone talking.
• You sit, just finished lunch (without alcohol).
• You behind the wheel, the car stopped in traffic for a few minutes.

Summarize points in the responses to understand how to actually want to sleep. Average scores in this test - 4-5.

The test does not work for people who are tormented by chronic insomnia.

Universal test for lack of sleep

Try another test of several issues:

• Is it difficult to get up in the morning?
• Without coffee or other stimulants, it is impossible to get started?
• Constantly yawn?
• At the head of the fog, hard to concentrate, do not want to move?
• sick often?
• You do not see progress in the training?

The more positive answers, the more sleep you need.

What should I do if I can not sleep because of the excitement

Tomorrow is an important day, because you are worried that you can not sleep. How to proceed?

If before lights definitely need to work or learn, try to complete all the works with the subdued light. Especially harmful to sleep blue light from the monitors and screens. It inhibits melatonin production - the hormone which generates epiphysis to prepare the body for sleep. Install programsWhich automatically change the screen brightness at sunset. You can even filter out blue light, wearing glasses with orange glasses.

Learn relaxing breathing exercises, listen to relaxing music.

In bed, you need only to sleep and have sex, nothing more. If you lie under a blanket, worried and can not sleep, get up and do something (cook herbal tea, listen to lullabies), until you are ready to try to sleep again. The bed should not cause association with insomnia.

If insomnia is a chronic (happens more than three times a week for three months), it is time to seek treatment. Visit a therapist, neurologist and psychotherapist.

Can I go back later and then sleep longer

What's the point? If we leave out the physiology of sleep deprivation only drawbacks: difficult to learn, concentrate and memorize. So that excessive working hours are unproductive. Putting aside the rebound, we are reducing the stage of slow wave sleep, that reduces the level of cortisol.

A lot of work, and brain - only one for life. Let him sleep. It is best that you can do.