#17: 6 Brain Harmful Effects of Sacrificing Sleep

Hi,

I'm happy you want to invest in your brain. That's a smart choice. As always, I've got 4 Brain Nutrients for you:

• One Short Article: 6 Brain Harmful Effects of Sacrificing Sleep

• Two Quotes.

• One Neuroscience Fact: Role of Neurotransmitters.

Enjoy!

One Short Article: 6 Brain Harmful Effects of Sacrificing Sleep

If you don't get 6 hours of sleep every night, your brain is like an old, slow computer.

You're fooling yourself if you believe you can perform well on less than 6 hours of sleep. When you're sleep deprived, you don't know how poorly you're performing. Your baseline is way below your actual capabilities.

When you prioritize sleep, your brain becomes like a new, fast computer.

What happens to you and your brain if you don't sleep enough?

Your concentration and alertness drop.

Your sleep quality impacts your ability to concentrate.

The depth of your focus is essential to your cognitive performance and learning capabilities. Without 7 hours of sleep, the depth of your focus worsens. So you'll process information slower and remember less.

And no, caffeine is not a substitute.

You're operating on a "dirty brain."

During the day, your brain accumulates toxins from metabolism.

They decrease your brain performance. The cleaning process occurs during sleep. Getting enough sleep is vital to get rid of toxins.

To regain your natural sharpness, get more sleep.

New synapses don't grow.

Neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to change.

You trigger it by learning something new. But the physical change in your brain occurs during sleep. The shorter your sleep, the reduced time for the growth of synapses.

Sleep to change your brain.

You're less creative.

A good night's sleep enhances creativity.

Creativity is a function of flexibility, originality, and the ability to change strategy. Sleep-deprived people show poorer performance in all of these categories.

To come up with anything original, prioritize sleep.

Your memory worsens.

The transfer between short-term and long-term memory happens during sleep.

If you don't get sufficient sleep, you'll forget most of what you learned the previous day. You throw away invested time and effort.

Worse memory also increases the odds of having dementia.

You're more stressed.

Sleep is vital for your emotional stability.

During the REM phase, your brain revisits emotional situations (stressed, angry, scared). But the brain does it emotionless. It's crucial to detach emotions from stressful experiences.

You need sleep for proper stress management.

Conclusion.

Look, I know you can get by sacrificing your sleep. But if you've been doing it for years, you have forgotten your true brain potential.

Yes, you gain a couple of hours a day. But you also throw away most of that time and effort.

Two Quotes

• "You can't be an important and life-changing presence for some people without also being a joke and an embarrassment to others." Mark Manson, The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F.ck

• "We measure ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others measure us based on what we've done." Henry Longfellow, The Long Game by Dorie Clark

One Neuroscience Fact: Neurotransmitters.

Your emotional state depends on chemicals in your body. They decide which brain areas to activate and which not.

The most impactful neuromodulators are:

• Cortisol

• Serotonin

• Melatonin

• Dopamine

• Epinephrine

• Acetylcholine

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Keep your brain in mind.

Kris

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