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Some people think the ability to go long stretches without sleep is like some sort of badge of honour you carry around. Listen in on the conversations of tech entrepreneurs world over and you’ll hear them exchanging stories of taking 45 minute catnaps under their desks at the office in yet another of many all-nighters, or gamers talking about their endless weekend sessions of their favourite titles.

Let’s stop the tough talk now: nothing good comes of foregoing sleep. In fact, the side effects of sleep deprivation are so deep that deliberately going without sufficient rest is borderline stupid.

Physical side-effects

Your body uses sleep as a time to repair and regenerate itself. So, if you’re very athletic and active, your risk of injury explodes if you do not sleep enough, since your body doesn’t get sufficient rest to repair itself.

Furthermore sleep deprivation and fatigue go hand-in-hand. This leads to a decrease in awareness, reaction time and productivity, inadvertently decreasing  the output of the very entrepreneurs and high-performers who cite output as their reason for not sleeping. Funny, that.

Effects on your eyes and head

Since your eyes are what is ‘rested’ when you sleep, red eyes, eyes that sting and feeling dizzy are direct side effects of sleep deprivation. Not sleeping enough is also a source of headaches, migraines, and at the extreme end, hallucination.

How to sleep better

For people who suffer from the side effects of sleep deprivation due to no fault of their own – such as insomnia, or an inability to sleep – consider changing your sleeping environment. A change as simple as buying a new mattress or sleeping in a different room can have a dramatic effect on the amount of sleep you’re able  to get. Also regulating your hours of activity and inactivity will let your body better gauge when it is time to rest. The point is the side effects of sleep deprivation far outway the potential benefits of more hours of activity.

Tags: sleep, sleep routine