What Is Chronic Sleep Deprivation?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsEffectsCausesDiagnosisTreatmentCoping

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Symptoms

Effects

Causes

Diagnosis

Treatment

Coping

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In the simplest terms, chronic sleep deprivation refers to the case of getting insufficient sleep or experiencing sleeplessness over an extended period of time. Chronic sleep deprivation can vary in its severity.

Accumulatedsleep debtcan lead to impairments in all areas of your life, and fixing the problem can be difficult depending on the cause. That being said, there are steps you can take to cope with sleep deprivation and ensure it does not lead to more serious issues.

How to Deal With Stress Insomnia

Sleep Deprivation Symptoms

If you live with insomnia or work shifts, you may be painfully aware that you’re not getting enough sleep. Some people living with undiagnosed sleep disorders, however, may not understand right away that sleep debt is the cause of what they are feeling.

Below are some signs that you may be experiencing chronic sleep deprivation:

Many of the effects of chronic sleep deprivation can have adverse secondary effects on your life, such as interfering with your relationships and jobs, impacting your judgment, and reducing your overall quality of life.

You may be at a higher risk of some of these effects if you are already dealing with a physical or mental health condition.

Physical Effects

The physical effects of sleep deprivation can range from decreased daily functioning to more long-term health issues. Below are several such effects:

Mental Effects

Some of the most significant negative effects of sleep debt may not be obvious to an outside observer but can cause severe impairment on a daily basis, including:

How Sleep Affects Mental Health

There are various potential causes of chronic sleep deprivation. While not everyone who experiences it will have the same underlying factors, there are some common causes:

If you think you are suffering from chronic sleep deprivation, it’s a good idea to get professional help. Your doctor can identify some effects of sleep deprivation based on a physical examination and diagnostic testing. You may also need to attend a sleep study to evaluate whether you have a sleep disorder or medical condition that could be affecting your sleep.

Some tests commonly used to diagnose a chronic sleep disorder, include:

Usually, treating chronic sleep deprivation will involve treating the underlying cause or causes. For example, in the case of insomnia, treatment might include talk therapy such ascognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) to deal with the worry or anxiety related to being unable to fall asleep.

In this way, it is important to figure out what the underlying cause of chronic sleep deprivation is so that treatment can be tailored to that problem.

A therapist can help give you strategies on how to calm your anxious mind to make it easier to fall asleep, including:

Other types of treatment used for chronic sleep deprivation might include:

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If you are living with chronic sleep deprivation, you know that it can disrupt all areas of your life. But that does not mean that you have to live with this condition without relief. If you have not already, visit your doctor to talk about the symptoms that you are experiencing. It’s important that medical causes be ruled out before other options are explored.

In the meantime, here are some tips to help increase the odds that you will get to sleep, get better sleep, and feel more rested:

Finally, know that you are not alone living with chronic sleep deprivation. As our world has changed and people are working various schedules, glued to technology, and finding it harder and harder not to worry themselves to sleep at night—you’re not the only one.

The Best Sleep Apps to Help You Get Some Shut-Eye, Tried and Tested

Summary

Making a plan to deal with your chronic sleep deprivation is the best way to make sure that you are actually taking action and not just gathering information. At some point, it’s important to sit down alone or with your doctor to make an action plan with concrete steps that will help you to get your sleep deprivation under control.

What’s more, you could find that once you start sleeping better, you have more energy and feel better able to deal with daily issues. It could be that you are more sleep-deprived than you realize and that it will be only through changes to improve your sleep that you’ll finally notice a change during your daily waking hours.

What’s your plan? Be sure to write one down now while you still have all this information fresh in your mind. And, if you’re hoping to help a friend or family member, be sure to jot down notes on what might help that person so that you don’t forget the next time you see them.

The Relationship Between Sleep and Stress

6 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency.Killgore WD.Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:105-29. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5National Organization for Rare Diseases.Fatal Familial Insomnia.National Sleep Foundation.Insomnia.Cunningham JEA, Shapiro CM.Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) to treat depression: A systematic review.J Psychosom Res. 2018;106:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.12.012National Sleep Foundation.“Catching up” on Sleep.

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency.Killgore WD.Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:105-29. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5National Organization for Rare Diseases.Fatal Familial Insomnia.National Sleep Foundation.Insomnia.Cunningham JEA, Shapiro CM.Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) to treat depression: A systematic review.J Psychosom Res. 2018;106:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.12.012National Sleep Foundation.“Catching up” on Sleep.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency.Killgore WD.Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:105-29. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5National Organization for Rare Diseases.Fatal Familial Insomnia.National Sleep Foundation.Insomnia.Cunningham JEA, Shapiro CM.Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) to treat depression: A systematic review.J Psychosom Res. 2018;106:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.12.012National Sleep Foundation.“Catching up” on Sleep.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency.

Killgore WD.Effects of sleep deprivation on cognition.Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:105-29. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53702-7.00007-5

National Organization for Rare Diseases.Fatal Familial Insomnia.

National Sleep Foundation.Insomnia.

Cunningham JEA, Shapiro CM.Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) to treat depression: A systematic review.J Psychosom Res. 2018;106:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.12.012

National Sleep Foundation.“Catching up” on Sleep.

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