Get your sleep! The negative effects of lack of sleep on your health

Your mother probably always told you how important it was to get enough sleep! Even for adults, sleeping enough is just as important as it is for kids.

In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult should sleep between seven and nine hours every night. However, when that's not the case there are detrimental effects that impact our health.

Firstly, tiredness can represent a serious risk if you're driving a vehicle or operating heavy machinery, which is why you should avoid doing so if you're sleepy.

However, one thing is the external risk caused by not being alert and something entirely different are the health problems that disrupting your sleep can bring you

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Sleep deprivation has been used as a torture method throughout history and for a very good reason.

Several studies point out that sleeping less than four hours for three or more nights in a row starts reducing the number of cells in our brain, affecting our mental performance.

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Without proper sleep, our brain doesn't get much-needed rest. This can lead to developing serious conditions in the long run such as Alzheimer's and dementia.

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Long-term consequences of sleep deprivation also include paranoia, and hallucinations, which can develop into more serious mental problems.

The brain is not the only part of our body that gets affected when we don't properly sleep. The National Sleep Foundation warns that resting less than six hours can also lead to higher blood pressure: Up to 132 when it's recommended to be kept under 120.

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Meanwhile, a study by Stanford University affirms that sleeping less than five hours every day can increase body mass by 3.6%.

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To top it all, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reveals that lack of sleep can also dramatically reduce your sexual appetite.

Research done by the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that sleeping less than five hours a day affects the efficiency of leptin, the hormone that regulates your food intake, increasing your appetite.

Sleep deprivation can also seriously damage your pancreas, according to the Yale University School of Medicine. Lack of proper rest makes you twice as likely to have diabetes, regardless of age or lifestyle.

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Not only that but long-term consequences of not properly resting include boosting your chances of developing cancer throughout your life.

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The University of Wisconsin also has studied the effects of sleep deprivation on the skin. Overall, those who don't sleep enough show earlier and greater symptoms of aging.

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Finally, the scientific publication Nature states that not sleeping properly can deeply affect our social relations, isolating us, which in turn can disrupt our sleep. This can create a vicious cycle of mental problems.

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So now that you know all the negative effects of not having a good night's sleep, it might be best to leave that show that you're binge-watching for the weekend!