Sleep Deprivation Symptoms – Have You Got Them?

The thing about sleep deprivation is, how do you know when you have a problem? You can have one or two bad nights sleep, then return to your normal sleep pattern. Speaking for myself, I can say that I am not worried when I feel too tired for one or two days, as long as I know the reason why I am so tired. When you do not know the reason why you are over tired, that is the time to seek professional help.

Here are some of the sleep deprivation symptoms, I personally would look out for.

1. If I feel tired, and find myself yawning more than usual. If you think, as I did, that we yawn because we are tired you would be wrong. The reason we yawn is due to the lack of oxygen reaching the brain. This decrease in the flow of oxygen to the brain is caused by not taking enough deep breaths, which in turn can be caused by lack of sleep. One would think, if that is true, that in order to stop yawning so much, all you need do is take deep breaths. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know if it works.

2. The second symptom I would notice is a decrease in the ability of my brain to function normally. I would start doing silly things which I would not do if I had had my normal amount of sleep. If I have been awake all night and tried to brush off the consequences, I have found that sooner or later I will start to make mistakes, simply because I am too tired.

3. There is a general feeling of apathy, almost numbness, when it comes to physical activities. Running is almost impossible, and even getting up out of a chair takes a certain amount of effort and will power. There is generally a feeling that you are too tired to do anything.

What would I do if I had any or all of these symptoms? I would reach for my sleep eye cover and catch up on my sleep as soon as possible. No one wants to suffer any of the above sleep deprivation symptoms for long, if they can avoid them.

Photo by Mike Burns

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