What happens to your body when you don't get enough sleep and 'ripple effect' it can lead to
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock
Experts have revealed what happens to your body when you don't get enough sleep during a heatwave.
While the blistering, merciless sun might be there throughout the day, in a twist of irony perhaps the most unpleasant part of a heatwave is at night.
If you're not fortunate enough to have air conditioning then you're left splayed out in bed as fans futilely waft air over your clammy body, with sleep becoming more wishful thinking than a realistic prospect.
With large parts of the US being subject to a 'heat dome', what impact does not being able to sleep during a heatwave have on your body the day after?
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Dr David Garley is the director at The Better Sleep Clinic, while Dr Hana Patel is an NHS GP and resident sleep expert at Time4Sleep, and they shared with Metro the effect the morning after the night before, in a heatwave.
The first thing you might notice is that when you wake up, or your alarm goes off if you never slept, you may feel 'emotionally slightly friable' with 'blunted' cognition, Dr Garley warned, and this being the start of a 'ripple effect' from the lack of sleep due to hot weather.
After around an hour, Dr Patel said that you may experience higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, which may result in a 'temporary sensation of alertness driven by stress',though this is not permanent at all.
By mid-morning things may have improved, with Dr Garley saying that 'mood and cognition' as well as 'energy levels' can get better as your body falls into its circadian rhythm, but it could also go the other way.
When it's time for lunch, Dr Garley warned that you may be hungrier than usual, including for carbs, though caving to this and eating carb-heavy food could lead to you crashing later on with some 'significant drowsiness'.
Dr Garley explained that it's possible you could get a 'second wind' in the mid afternoon.
However, Dr Patel warned that a lack of sleep could also an impact on your emotional state, which could result in feeling more 'irritable, impatient, depressed, or anxious'.
Dr Patel also warned people to resists the temptation to nap, no matter how enticing it might be.
"As fatigue accumulates into the afternoon and evening, motivation and concentration generally decline further," she said.
"It can be tempting to try to nap to combat the tiredness; however, this can be counter productive and can impact your ability to sleep well when you do go to bed."
Meanwhile, Dr Garley shared some tips on what to do when you don't get enough shut eye, saying: "The best thing you can do when sleep deprived is to be kind to yourself, try to keep your day as typical as you can, and avoid the urge to go to bed too early the following night, as this can sometimes throw off your natural rhythm."