[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
The word all-nighter sends shivers down my spine…seriously the single though of not being able to climb into my bed at night is unimaginable. The thing is things weren’t always this way; I actually used to stay up to all hours of the night and would watch the sun slowly descend on the other side of a hillside that was in full view of my Living Room window only to watch it reappear hours later. What was I doing?
Good question and to be totally honest I wasn’t doing anything, I just found myself staying up for no reason whatsoever. Usually I would relive some movie classics such as Jaws, Back To The Future or Jurassic Park – has anyone noticed the amount of mistakes in this movie?
It’s ridiculous, but it’s still one of my all time favourites. Other times I would be surfing the net doing a bit of virtual window shopping, playing on Facebook or wasting countless hours watching funny cat videos on YouTube, you would be surprised at just how many you can find.
The thing is I didn’t realise just how damaging pulling all-nighters actually are? I am not just talking about being tired here and the lines and wrinkles and years it adds your face, I mean it can be seriously damaging both physically and emotionally which in some cases are irreversible.
Once you read the below you will never want to pull an all-nighter again:
Stress
As you head off to bed little stress hormones known as cortisol start to decease in your body. Studies have shown that these hormones in people who stay up all night decease at a significantly lower rate meaning that you get a build up of cortisol in your body. Think about it, it’s no mistake why sleep deprivation is used as a torture technique. This build up can lead to and make you more prone to panic attacks and chronic depression.
Susceptible To Illness
Sleep deprivation has been proven to lower the amount of white blood cells in your body. Yeah this is not good!! These cells are vital in fighting off all the nasty bugs and germs that inhabit our world keeping us healthy.
Gain Weight
Like cortisol other hormones in your body are also affected by a lack of sleep. These are called:
- Leplin: lets the brain know when you are full and when to start burning calories
- Ghrelin: tells the brain when you are hungry and need to eat and when to stop burning calories to store energy.
Staying up all night messes with these hormones making the leplin hormone levels decrease and the ghrelin levels increase. Look again at the above functions of these 2 hormones and you will realise why this is bad for your weight.
Age Quicker
During the busy day your body is given a rough time so at night it uses this time to repair itself. Clever thing!! This repair stage is called catabolysis and during this stage blood flow is increased, cell debris removed and general repair takes place.
Not getting enough sleep either means your body doesn’t complete catabolysis or that it is forced to skip it resulting in your skin looking worn out with more wrinkles and less elasticity. So if you want to maintain your youthful appearance make sure to hit the hay early.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]