Sleep is such a wonderful thing. There's no better part of the day than when you can finally unlace your shoes, slip on your coziest flannel pajama pants, and curl up underneath a fluffy comforter. When you wake up in the morning after a full night's sleep, you're ready to seize the day, full force!
But what happens if you don't get a full night's rest? Sure, you'll be a little drowsy, drink an extra cup of coffee once you get to work, and let out a lot of very contagious yawns. What you don't realize is that there are a lot more, much more serious, effects of sleep deprivation. Your body and your mind deteriorate over time in ways you would never guess are related to losing sleep.
The solution for not getting enough sleep during the week? You sleep in on the weekends. Right? Wrong. While catching up on minor sleep loss after a hard week will help to improve things like reaction time and ability to complete simple functions, the long-term effects run much deeper. You cannot ever fully repay your sleep debt in full, so all those times you stayed awake all night in your college library, or on the town, have already had a permanent effect on your cognitive ability and physical health.
So, what's happening to you when you can't seem to catch enough zZz's? You really won't believe it.
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