Sleep Deprivation and its Weird Effects on the Mind and Body

Last week we talked about sleep. We talked about how much the average person needs, and how much they get. We also talked about how you can't just rely on "averages" to determine how much you need. Sleep in a personal thing, and we all need different amounts.

But sleep is incredibly important. You have to do it. Not getting enough, or sleep deprivation, is a real, and bizarre thing. It's also the topic of this week's Healthcare Triage.


John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Mark Olsen -- Graphics

[MiauFrito]

The worst thing about being sleep deprived is that you go into a sort of "zombie mode" and you don't even realize that it's because of the lack of sleep. I don't remember almost anything from my first 2 years of highschool. I only "woke up" when a teacher asked me how many hours I slept and told me the adverse effects of insufficient sleep

[woelchar]

stay up for 2 days straight and when I walked home the clouds were rainbow colors and the sidewalk was moving. so long story short sleep deprivation is the way for a free acid trip

[NotTotallyHopeless]

Yea I remember being in high school and how I'd leave the house before anyone was up. My bus came at 6:30 and most nights I was up until 1 getting homework done. It was a bad system and when I graduated I found that my sleep issues and depression stuck with me for almost a whole year into college. Now I get 8 or 9 hours most nights and I just feel so much better physically and mentally.

[colton]

There’s nothing like a full 12 hours of sleep, especially when you struggle with sleeping. It’s only happened to me a handful of times, but the feeling when you wake up refreshed as we were intended to be is simply amazing.

[georgemorrison]

I talk to myself when sleep deprived, anyone else?

[garrettcooper]

For me, insomnia ha caused my anxiety to spike really bad, for a while I became obsessed / worried with the idea of having something worse e.g. a personality disorder, schizo, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with having any of that, but I knew I wasn’t prepared for that fear. But, you aren’t alone. If you’re worried that you have something worse, you probably don’t. Insomnia is a powerful thing, don’t lose hope. You will get through it, trust me. It took me months, it’s a process.

[alexaf.]

I've been getting 5-6 hours of sleep for years, and I feel like it's finally catching up to me, I feel exhausted all day nowadays.

[austinedmund]

I Start laughing at the most minor things and have the giggles when I don't sleep for 24 hrs.

[starrynight]

I literally procrastinate on sleeping. Why? Why do I procrastinate on the easiest thing ever? It isn't like I don't want to sleep. I just *don't.* What the heck? Have I seriously procrastinated on school stuff so much that it's making me procrastinate on literally everything? Oh my god.

[haylsteinn]

It’s been over 4 years since I’ve had a full night sleep, my anecdotal evidence shows a great decrease in mental capacity (went from an A college student to needing to take leave due to not keeping up. Depression and anxiety increased and emotionally I have become more detached.
The sacrifice parents make, eh.

[jliller]

When I get sleep deprived I've noticed two main symptoms in addition to the obvious ones (sluggishness, dulled thinking, etc): my eye starts twitching and I start feeling depressed.

[scoutintime]

so being sleep-deprived takes away my empathy, *perfect.*

[zlaku]

"sleep deprivation is responsible for depression in teens" that explains a lot, been sleeping for 4 hours since grade 7.

[Christinatw]

My depression, anxiety and mood swings went away drastically once I graduated highschool.

[withinyouwithutyu]

I've been awake for 61 hours straight, worked a 12 hour shift yesterday and 12 today. I've been trying to type this message for ten minutes, insomnia sucks.

[jr.jackrabbit]

When I become sleep deprived, my left eye starts pointing inward and I start going cross-eyed. I have to blink repeatedly in order to re-center my vision sometimes.

[Peter_]

I once actually used sleep deprivation as a way to make myself more relaxed around people, lol.
I used to be a member of this school band at my university a couple years ago and I always hesitated to say anything to them because I often have this uneasy feeling that I could make a bad impression at absolutely any moment, so I stayed up all night just to put myself in that wonderful relaxed state that I sometimes get into when I am sleep-deprived, and it was super-easy for me to have relaxed conversations with the people in the school band the next day. xD

[medleysa]

I've always been told that high schools start earlier so that they end earlier, allowing kids with after school jobs the ability to get to work sooner and retain more hours at businesses that close earlier (i.e. 5 PM, 6 PM).

However, I think that schools should start later and let employed students go early (like early release). Then, count their job as credit for some type of class. Have them submit reports or papers on experiences at their jobs. Colleges do this with internships all the time. Why not high school? 

[lexiej]

This video was very interesting, as I have gone through periods of my life where I’ve gotten little to no sleep. Sleep deprivation, I have to agree, is one of the worst things that can happen to a student academically. I have witnessed a lot of my grades suffer because of my insomnia, and it’s hard to overcome that feeling of failure when there is little that can be done about it. I have noticed a lot of the physical symptoms in myself as well. When I go through periods of sleep deprivation, I do feel more pain, and aches throughout the day. Also, as an empath, I naturally feel other people’s emotions and can easily sense their moods just y walking into a room. When I’ve gotten little to no sleep, this sense is very dulled and almost intangible. I feel like a lot of young adults get little to no sleep because of educational reasons. My high school started at 8:15 AM and I found it hard to get a full night of sleep, get all of my school work done and throw in some family time too. If the start time of school was pushed back to 9 or 10, I think a lot of kids would do better in their courses.

[TheNewfoundlandTomato]

A few nights ago I stayed up all night at my friends house. I went home and fell asleep for about 20 minutes. Woke up and thought I was still at my friends house