You may already know it or maybe you don’t, but continuous bad sleeping patterns can cause much harm to your health or even death. According to the American Sleep Association:

50-70 million US adults have a sleep disorder.
48.0% report snoring.
25 Million U.S. adults have obstructive sleep apnea
9-21% of women have obstructive sleep apnea
24-31% of men have obstructive sleep apnea
3–5% of the overall proportion of obesity in adults could be attributable to short sleep

FAN FACT: Did you know that, drowsy driving is responsible for 1,550 fatalities and 40,000 nonfatal injuries annually in the United States (source)

FAN FACT 2: Also, did you know that 100.000 deaths occur each year in US hospitals due to medical errors and sleep deprivation has been shown to make a significant contribution (source).

What can you do about this?

Well, there are two options actually. Continue reading to find out.

Learn about good sleep

When I mean learn about good sleep, I am not talking about asking your friends or family members about it, who most probably think they know about it.

Now, you can go to Google, Bing or your favorite search engine and search about how to improve your sleeping, get a ton of results from blogs and video directories, spend ~~another~~ many hours to study them, implement them for a couple of days and then forget the whole subject or…

Find an accredited institute who offers sleep science certifications and enroll to their program. It might not be free (it’s neither expensive though) but you will save huge amounts of time of finding the content yourself and most importantly structure your learning pattern.

Fan Fact: Research has shown that people, who buy something, tend to value it more – thus actually using the product – than getting it for free.

Hire someone who knows about good sleep

Now, this is the easiest solution. You basically hire someone who is a certified sleep science coach and he takes you by the hand and guides you into the secrets of good, quality, and healing sleep.

Now, why I am suggesting hiring someone who is a certified sleep coach? Because you at least receive information from someone who paid and studied his stuff. Also, a sleep coach’s job is to track your progress and help you reach your goals.

So, if you want to eliminate the possibility of giving up and NOT helping yourself, then this is the best option for you.

You might find it a bit extreme to hire a sleep coach, but trust me you will thank me later.

Diseases Caused by Sleep Deprivation

Although many don’t believe it, sleep deprivation can actually harm you in ways you couldn’t imagine.

Sleep is incredibly important for our mental and physical health. It helps our body and mind restore themselves and of course, fills our batteries up. As many important processes take part while we’re asleep, a proper night of rest is highly important for our health.

Aside from balancing our hormones and refreshing the immune system, sleep is also vital for our mind and memory.

This is exactly why a night of poor or no sleep leaves us unable to focus and cranky. Sleep deprivation is becoming a serious problem around the world, affecting millions of people and the numbers are rising. It’s one of the leading causes of depression and other diseases and conditions you can see listed below.

Alzheimer’s Disease

While we’re asleep, the brain “repairs” old and worn structures and makes space for new brain cells. Get less than the recommended sleeping time, and this won’t happen, leading to dementia, cognitive decline, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a 2013 Johns Hopkins University study, sleep deprivation is one of the leading causes of dementia.

Those who slept less than 7-8 hours had significantly higher amounts of beta-amyloid deposits in their brain. This is exactly why you should get 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

Heart Disease

As it’s influenced by our diet and lifestyle, sleeping plays a vital part in heart disease. People who sleep less than the recommended 7 or 8 hours are at a much higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Poor sleepers are also at an increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke as well.

Obesity and Diabetes

Now you’re probably wondering, what the hell has sleeping to do with excess fat? Well, a study from Chicago University linked poor sleep to obesity and diabetes. Sleep deprivation was found to be tied to fatty acid buildup that affects insulin sensitivity and our metabolism as well.

Slow metabolism equals excess fat, while impaired insulin sensitivity will eventually lead to diabetes. That’s why you should get more sleep.

Ulcerative Colitis

This inflammatory bowel disease is usually triggered by smoking, poor diet, and heavy weight. But, now we can also add poor sleep to the list. A recent study showed that people who sleep less than 7 hours are more likely to suffer from ulcerative colitis.

Interestingly enough, those who slept more than 9 were also at a higher risk of inflammation. This means that you need to get the right amount of sleep to prevent the onset of the condition.

Prostate Cancer

Lack of sleep actually raises your risk of prostate cancer if you’re a male. Icelandic researchers were recently able to find out that prostate cancer is affected by the levels of melatonin in our body.

Melatonin, as most of you probably know, is a sleep hormone. If you suffer from sleep deprivation its levels could get messed up, leading to a higher risk of an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Suicide

Last on the list is suicide. Although not a disease in any way, it generally comes as a result of poor mental health and depression, both of which can be caused by sleep deprivation and stress. Chronic lack of sleep may be the reason behind your depression. If you suffer from any suicide thoughts, we suggest talking to your doctor to learn how to get more sleep.

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