Why working late is useless and even harmful

What sleep deprivation does to the body

Just one sleepless night affects the immune system in much the same way as stress. Not getting enough sleep lowers your white blood cell count, making you vulnerable to infection.
One sleepless night raises blood pressure. If you are hypertensive, even half a night without sleep will raise your blood pressure (due to stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system).
During sleep, the endocrine system works, hormones responsible for growth, thermoregulation are activated, and lack of sleep undermines these processes. At the same time, the circulation of hormones responsible for the feeling of satiety changes: leptin and ghrelin. This leads to constant hunger and imperceptible weight gain.
A week of a little sleep deprivation (six hours of sleep a day is already a lack of sleep, and not at all the norm) increases the production of anti-inflammatory proteins of cytokines, which can disrupt the work of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. To cope with this effect a little, sleep a little longer on the weekend.
The same week of six hours of sleep disrupts the transcription of genes responsible for circadian rhythms, metabolism and oxidative stress.

How sleep deprivation affects the brain

One sleepless night lowers coordination and visual reaction speed, studies in car simulators have shown. …

In the same study, which found an increase in cytokines due to insomnia, scientists noticed that three nights is not enough to get enough sleep. If you sleep for ten hours three nights in a row, the reaction rate does not return to normal.

Chronic sleep deprivation spoils short-term and long-term memory, makes it difficult to make decisions, concentrate and react to the environment.

Check if you have enough sleep

Epworth Sleepiness Scale Test

To find out if you are getting enough sleep, take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale Test. …

Rate each situation on a sleepiness scale.

Points	Grade
0	I will not fall asleep
1	There is a chance to doze off
2	I may fall asleep
3	Chances are I will fall asleep

Assessment situations:

You sit and read a book.
You are watching TV.
You sit quietly in a public place (theater or meeting).
You drive an hour in a car (as a passenger).
You lay down to rest after dinner.
You sit and chat with someone.
You are sitting, lunch has just ended (no alcohol).
You are driving, the car has stopped in a traffic jam for a few minutes.

Add up the scores in the answers to see how much sleep you really want. The average score on this test is 4-5.

The test does not work for people who suffer from chronic insomnia.

Universal sleep deprivation test

Try another test with several questions:

Is it difficult to get up in the morning?
Can't get started without coffee or other stimulants?
Are you constantly yawning?
Fog in your head, hard to concentrate, no desire to move?
Do you get sick often?
Seeing no progress in your workouts?

The more positive answers you have, the more sleep you need.

What to do if you can't sleep because of anxiety

Tomorrow is an important day, you are so worried that you cannot sleep. How to proceed?

If you definitely need to work or learn before going out, try to finish all the work with dim lights. Blue light from monitors and screens is especially harmful to sleep. It inhibits the production of melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland to prepare the body for sleep. Install programs that automatically change the brightness of the screen when the sun goes down. You can also filter out blue light by wearing glasses with orange lenses.

Learn relaxing breathing exercises, listen to calm music.

In bed, you just need to sleep and have sex, nothing else. If you're lying under the covers and feeling stressed and unable to sleep, get up and do something (make herbal tea, listen to the lullabies) until you're ready to try again. The bed should not be associated with insomnia.

If insomnia is chronic (it happens more than three times a week for three months), then it's time to seek treatment. Visit a therapist, neurologist and psychotherapist.

Is it possible to lie down later, and then sleep a little longer

What's the point? Physiology aside, there are only disadvantages to lack of sleep: it is more difficult to learn, concentrate and remember. So excess hours of work are unproductive. By delaying bedtime, we shorten NREM sleep, in which cortisol levels drop.

There is a lot of work, but the brain is only one and for life. Let him sleep. This is the best you can do.