What are the side effects of insomnia? Most people would probably mention irritability and grouchiness (they’re remembering how they felt the day after a bad night’s sleep).
However, when it comes to insomnia, the effects can be far more damaging. The Huffington Post puts an interesting angle on the very serious effects of sleep deprivation by rewriting key points in the plot of Sleepless in Seattle to make them more realistic. In case you don’t want to read the entire article, some of the most serious side effects were:
- Depression
- Irritability
- Hallucinations
- Putting on weight
- Lacking creativity
- Poor judgement
If you’re after some hard statistics:
- A quarter of a million motor vehicle accidents a year are attributed to drowsiness. Driving while sleepless is as dangerous as driving while drunk.
- Sleep deprivation increases the risk for heart attacks and diabetes. In one small study, 40 percent of patients reported at least two weeks of insomnia before suffering a heart attack.
- Insomniacs are 17 times more anxious than the rest of us.
Insomniacs are probably familiar with most of these points. This post was written to bring more attention to insomnia and to demonstrate just how serious it is. It isn’t something to be brushed aside. It’s a serious problem and we need to raise awareness and offer insomnia sufferers more support and understanding.
As always, there's more information and advice in our insomnia support forum.
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