sleep ·

Why going to bed late may not be the best idea for your health

Sure, it’s fun to stay up late, talk to the Moon, watch movies that make you hug your blanket tighter and enjoy the night’s silence, but have you ever asked yourself if going to bed late causes any ill effects to your health? We have and it does! Here is how …

Body mass gain

That’s right – staying up late might bring additional pounds and destroy all the hard work you have done sweating in the gym before. And the worst thing about it is that it will catch you completely unaware!

How does going to bed late affect body mass?

First of all, staying up late increases appetite and late night eating is the worst kind since it burdens the body, decreases the overall quality of sleep, and the calories eaten during the night often end up going directly into body fat. Recent studies from the USA have also confirmed the connection between body mass and usual time of going to bed – the later people go to sleep, the farther the indicator on the scale moves.

Insomnia

Staying up past midnight and then sleeping almost until noon is not a problem, right? You still get plenty of sleep, no matter what time you go to bed … Wrong!

Getting to bed late messes up your natural sleeping cycle

Going to bed late from time to time is generally not a problem; but doing this regularly is. It disturbs your natural circadian rhythms, which may eventually cause insomnia – problems with falling asleep and staying asleep, which in turn brings various other potential health problems.

Impaired fertility

Who would have thought – researchers have found out that going to bed late can actually have a negative effect on fertility, especially in women.

How can going to bed late affect fertility?

Melatonin is a hormone responsible for protecting women’s eggs from oxidative stress. Exposure to light at night decreases the production of melatonin in the body, potentially harming women’s eggs in the long term.

Stress

Although the research on the impact of unusual sleep patterns on stress is far from being conclusive, there have been indications that going to bed late may cause big amounts of stress. How exactly?

Long exposure to light can cause depression

Studies show that human body is well-adapted to the ever-present rotation of our planet that alternates our exposure to light and darkness. Disturbing this cycle for a longer period of time (for whatever reason – living in extreme geographical latitudes, being confined to dark places or going to bed late frequently) can cause various psychological issues and increase the level of stress hormone cortisol in the body.

Deterioration of mental abilities

You already know now that going to bed late disrupts the usual sleeping pattern and decreases the overall quality of sleep. But what you might not know is the fact that all these disturbances don’t only hurt your physical health, but also your mental health …

Going to bed late affects your mental abilities

For one, going to bed late is frequently a synonym for not getting enough sleep, which may cause lack of focus, worsened memory recall and less creativity. In addition to all this, going to bed late also disrupts the normal brain function cycle, so the brain needs more time to get running in the mornings.

Accidents

The last, but definitely not the least potential consequence of going to bed late are accidents. Sure, accidents don’t technically count as health problems, but they can sure cause many of them!

Can going to bed late cause accidents?

Sure it can! Statistics show that lack of sleep (which is very often a result of going to bed late) causes reduced efficiency in almost any kind of work, lack of focus, errors and, in the end, greatly increases chances for various accidents, including accidents involving work with machinery, driving accidents and unfortunate accidents that can happen to anyone (such as tripping on the stairs or banging one’s head against something). Ouch!