What Happens To Your Body And Brain If You Don't Get Sleep | The Human Body

Sleep expert Matthew Walker breaks down the many effects of sleep deprivation on your brain and body.

Following is the transcript of the video:

Matthew Walker: My name is Matthew Walker, I am a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and I am the author of the book "Why We Sleep."

We certainly know that a lack of sleep will actually prevent your brain from being able to initially make new memories, so it's almost as though without sleep the memory inbox of the brain shuts down and you can't commit new experiences to memory. So those new incoming informational emails are just bounced, and you end up feeling as though you're amnesiac. You can't essentially make and create those new memories.

We also know that a lack of sleep will lead to an increased development of a toxic protein in the brain that is called beta amyloid and that is associated with Alzheimer's disease because it is during deep sleep at night when a sewage system within the brain actually kicks in to high gear and it starts to wash away this toxic protein, beta amyloid. So if you're not getting enough sleep each and every night, more of that Alzheimer's-related protein will build up. The more protein that builds up, the greater your risk of going on to develop dementia in later life.

What are the effects of sleep deprivation on the body? Well, there are many different effects. Firstly, we know that sleep deprivation affects the reproductive system. We know that men who are sleeping just five to six hours a night have a level of testosterone which is that of someone ten years their senior. So a lack of sleep will age you by almost a decade in terms of that aspect of virility and wellness.

We also know that a lack of sleep impacts your immune system. So after just one night of four to five hours of sleep, there is a 70% reduction in critical anticancer-fighting immune cells called natural killer cells. And that's the reason that we know that short sleep duration predicts your risk for developing numerous forms of cancer. And that list currently includes cancer of the bowel, cancer of the prostate, as well as cancer of the breast. In fact, the link between a lack of sleep and cancer is now so strong that recently the World Health Organization decided to classify any form of nighttime shift work as a probable carcinogen. So in other words, jobs that may induce cancer because of a disruption of your sleep rate rhythms.

We also know that a lack of sleep impacts your cardiovascular system because it is during deep sleep at night that you receive this most wonderful form of effectively blood pressure medication. Your heart rate drops, your blood pressure goes down. If you're not getting sufficient sleep, you're not getting that reboot of the cardiovascular system, so your blood pressure rises. You have, if you're getting six hours of sleep or less, a 200% increased risk of having a fatal heart attack or stroke in your lifetime.

There is a global experiment that is performed on 1.6 billion people twice a year and it's called daylight saving time. And we know that in the spring, when we lose one hour of sleep, we see a subsequent 24% increase in heart attacks the following day.

Another question, perhaps, is what is the recycle rate of a human being? How long can we actually last without sleep before we start to see declines in your brain function or even impairments within your body? And the answer seems to be about 16 hours of wakefulness. Once you get past 16 hours of being awake, that's when we start to see mental deterioration and physiological deterioration in the body. We know that after you've been awake for 19 or 20 hours, your mental capacity is so impaired that you would be as deficient as someone who was legally drunk behind the wheel of a car. So if you were to ask me what is the recycle rate of a human being, it does seem to be about 16 hours and we need about eight hours of sleep to repair the damage of wakefulness. Wakefulness essentially is low-level brain damage.

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What Happens To Your Body And Brain If You Don't Get Sleep | The Human Body

[famousamos]

When I was younger, I hated sleep. Thought it was a waste of time. Now that I'm older, I love sleep.

[markmartin]

Thank you for making this video. I once worked two jobs, surviving on 2 hours of sleep. I felt the worst I had ever felt, lost weight, and caught pneumonia. The importance of sleep cannot be stated enough.

[frutigermetroboomin]

The part where you can't form new memories is so real. I've experienced that to extreme degrees. In school, I remember being perfectly able to grasp every piece of material we were taught, but without being able to remember it for extended periods of time. I would only be able to remember a few things, then the rest would go down the drain. It was exhausting. I needed to work way harder than necessary, but I was of course too exhausted to put in all the work needed to keep retaining all the information I kept forgetting.

This was also a huge problem when I started my first part-time job. Mind you, it was in a pharmacy, so there was a lot of information to take in. I would constantly be told how to do certain things and forget in the next second. It was terrible having to ask for help again and again. Then I told my boss about how I slept very little and she encouraged me to go to the doctor. I was actually sleeping so little that I was at the point where I would wake up feeling "normal" after 3-4 hours of sleep (not good). I was seriously mimicking ADHD symptoms, hell, even dementia. I was tired, demotivated, discouraged, clumsy, impulsive, unaware and absent-minded. But it was my normal and I didn't think about it. I was a child/teenager and my knowledge of the effects of sleep deprivation was highly limited, up until the age of 17-18 when I started reading about it.

[aliyahjoelle]

Coming across this video while procrastinating sleeping was an anxiety-inducing decision.

[margaretnewbold]

I have suffered lack of sleep from chronic pain issues over the years and finally developed fibromyalgia which stopped me sleeping almost completely until I was prescribed medication.
I find such difficulty falling asleep now even when really tired and it’s definitely had an effect on my mental capacity and physical health over 20 years and dreadful brain fog is an example of this.
Ability to remember things is now so bad, it does make sense why and also my mom hated sleep and spent hours reading in bed. She had a heart attack and developed dementia. Sadly I can see me doing the same but I love sleep when I can get it. It makes such a difference to your day when you’ve slept well!
On my gravestone I’d like “Peace at last- Do not disturb !” 🤣🤣

[Ohboycommentsection]

I have to admit that most YouTube videos on sleep are "the same old, same old" but this actually taught me quite a few new things. Well done.

[badr]

Me wants to sleep 8 houres of sleep
School : three take it or leave it

[timurtyan]

*explains why you need sleep*
me: *watches at 4 am"

[MariaFallu]

Psychedelic's definitely have potential to deal with mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression, I would like to try them again but it's just so hard to source here.

[Px-jopq]

Wonderful. I love being a night shift nurse. Who isn’t able to sleep during the day/before my shift 😞 What a wonderful life.

[sallltynacl]

So you’re telling me that I’m just welcoming cancer related things inside me while I binge watch Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares show?

[sokka]

Schools: I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see that

[maximilianmusiker]

Such a crucial piece of information for a student of medicine - thank you so much ❤️

[anitabbold]

Ive been doing a graveyard shift for almost 2 years now I feel super tired. Thanks for this video, I will change my work and sleep shift💤

[xylenbp]

Me watching Netflix at 4am: *just one more episode*

[julievanderleest]

I have extremely severe central sleep apnea that went undiagnosed for over two years. I complained about being extremely tired all the time to my doctor several times but they blamed it on my medicine. When I say extreme, that’s really an understatement. I dosed off constantly, even on hard plastic chairs. Nothing I did helped. Finally my doctor agreed to do a sleep study. I was told I shouldn’t be alive, that’s how bad it was. I stopped breathing 150x per hour. That’s 5x more than what they consider severe. To make matters worse my file was misplaced when it was supposed to be expedited and it was another six months before they finally got back to me. I sure hope that it doesn’t effect me later in life. Watching this video scared me a bit. I’m getting better sleep today and my central sleep apnea is under control. Brain signals are struggling in other areas yet but not so much with sleep.
I have a lot of family history of heart problems too. Both my parents died from heart failure and had heart problems, my maternal grandpa died of a heart attack and my fraternal grandma had heart problems. I feel like I’m doomed after watching this and knowing what I’ve learned from doctors. I’m not even 40 yet.😢

[tamarabradberry]

About 33 years ago I went through some kind of mental health stuff that I now call GAD...general anxiety disorder. It hit seemingly so fast and hard one week. I went 3 days/nights without being able to fall asleep. It was hell. Dont even get me started about the doctors lack of help at that time. Ill never forget it. I didnt even know it was possible. Im much better these

[captain-ffhg]

To all schools everywhere.
*Dont give us homework or we will get cancer*

[aaronmiller]

Sleep is like a *Free Trial* of being dead every night unless if you want to go *Premium*

[dafezz]

I had sleep apnea which lead to sleep deprivation, and my brain, mood and heart were all getting affected due to this. Finally got a CPAP machine 9 months ago and holy cow, big difference. I’m so thankful for the Doctors I had that helped me get my CPAP