Can you get sick from lack of sleep?
By dopey22girl
@dopey22girl (3319)
United States
March 7, 2007 3:22pm CST
This is probably a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyways. I go to school everyday for 8 hours, and then every single night almost I work for 4-5 hours. I work 13+ hours over the weekends. Aside from working about every day and going to school every day and working every weekend, I babysit. Sometimes I babysit at 9 at night, and I'm allowed to fall asleep. So I'll fall asleep at 10...the parents will get home at 1...and I'll have to wake up and drive home and go back to sleep until 5:30 when I get up in the morning. So it's kind of like interrupted sleep. And I babysit every Saturday night until 1 am or so as well. You can see how busy my life is and how hard I have to work. Not to mention having to do homework at 10 at night. So I average between 5-7 hours of sleep per night. I always feel tired and stuff. But my schedule has gotten so much worse within the past 2 weeks. Can I get sick from working myself too hard? What could happen?
9 people like this
53 responses
@mnflower (1299)
• United States
7 Mar 07
I think you need to stop and take a look at your schedule, it seems to me that you are just trying to take too much on and you need to figure out what is best for you, 5-7 hours of sleep is enough tho I average about 6 hours a night and am on the go all day and night...Your getting sick could be more from lack of eating right and just trying to take too much on your getting stressed out..A person can only do so much in one day..Lessen your load a little this might help.
2 people like this
@RogerTheRabbit (1271)
• Portugal
8 Mar 07
I believe its not a matter of getting sick, but you will get very tired and then its going to reflect on your work and most important in your study.
You will also get irritated very easily and you will not have patience to do anything.
And if you don't get you beauty sleep you will get ugly too :)
1 person likes this
@dopey22girl (3319)
• United States
8 Mar 07
Lol...I have been getting irritated easily lately!
1 person likes this
@RogerTheRabbit (1271)
• Portugal
8 Mar 07
But sleeping all day won't help you much if the day after that you don't sleep at all.
@LadyLeene (584)
• United States
7 Mar 07
Well, sleep deprivation in and of itself doesn't make you sick, but it does lower your immune system and make it more likely that you will become ill. Sleep deprivation has also been known to cause depression, weight gain, and even a form of schizophrenia.
1 person likes this
@tomatoe39 (298)
• United States
8 Mar 07
I know that I personally cannot function without 6-7 hours of sleep and of course my morning coffee and then I am ready to go..if I sleep too much then I feel bad and for some reason taking a nap in the middle of the day makes me feel worse than I did before I went to sleep...
1 person likes this
@ondrea (20)
• United States
8 Mar 07
As everyone is saying, you need 6-8 hours. Your body needs the time to recover and repair itself in order to work properly...It's like if you charge your cell phone half way, you KNOW it is not going to last you all day!! I completely understand where you are coming from though...I am a single Mom, working two jobs, putting myself through school, I was in a car accident recently and have been going from doctor to doctor which takes 1-2 hours out of my day that I don't really have to spare.
Avoid caffine or any stimulant that jolts the body with "energy"; it works for short time but then you crash leaving you more tired then before! What helps me is eating healthy, a good multi-vitamin, and exercise. I have plenty of pointers if you wanna hear them... =)
1 person likes this
@livin_like_bird (31)
• India
8 Mar 07
Well this is not a stupid question but healthwise this is such a important concern with our lives getting changed so much we leave outselves no time to look at out health
I shall say we should give some time to ourselves and our sleep. Yes you can fall sick at anytime with such a routine. At the most you can end up with red eyes, strain on your body and your nerves starting to tire too soon but these symptoms comes only after couple of years..
1 person likes this
@smille (829)
• India
8 Mar 07
oh god i really work hard.........but why u hv to work so hard? whts ur age? school means u a teacher or student? if student thn whts ur needs tht u hv to work so hard? if its possible just reduce ur requrements, 7 hrs sleep is okay, butit should be sound, try to sleep on weekends too.
1 person likes this
@livvy092002 (1032)
• Philippines
8 Mar 07
Actually its really not healthy for a person to have insufficient sleep.. as for me ive experienced sleeping only 5 hours a day and it makes me naseaus and dizzy.
1 person likes this
@clod0327 (817)
• Philippines
8 Mar 07
Yes, I believe that not having enough sleep and rest will make you sick. If you abuse your body, there will come a time that it will give up on you. Maybe you won’t feel it now, but as you grow older you will then realize and feel the effect of abusing your body.
So relax, have time to rest and to give your body a break.
1 person likes this
@retardedrugrat (4791)
• Canada
8 Mar 07
You really need to stop and take a look at your schedule. You're pushing yourself way too hard and trying to do way too much.
With your schooling and then your job, you should think about stopping th babysitting for a while so that you can make sure you keep caught up with schoolwork and get some decent rest on a night.
Not enough sleep can cause you to suffer from extreme fatigue, restlessness, unable to concentrate, and you may also find yourself falling asleep in class at school.
1 person likes this
@sban035428 (7)
• India
8 Mar 07
our body s like a machine.....it goes on working as long as we will oil it carefully and regularly.........n oiling means not only eating good fud....but also having a deep sound sleep....bcoz evry m/c needs rest......
@shakeroo (3986)
• Malaysia
8 Mar 07
Well, even if you don't get sick you might get into other troubles such as falling asleep at an important meeting with an important client, falling asleep while you are driving or operating some machines, falling asleep while you are watching a movie that you have saved your money for a long time so that you can watch it.
In other words, please get a good night sleep. It is no point to work hard and get sick and then you could not work again. Plan your work carefully and plan your rest carefully as well. Good luck!
@bettyrose20 (997)
• Philippines
8 Mar 07
Speaking from my own experience, yes, we could get sick due to lack of sleep..
maybe because our immune system can be vulnerable when we dont sleep much..we tend to have colds, headache that could lead to flu..
and our brains tend to deteriorate when we dont sleep much..
some people complain of having sore stomach, developed migraine just because of lack of sleep..
dont work too much..
1 person likes this
@rakesh162 (131)
• India
8 Mar 07
Yes i really feel sick when ican't catch some sleep .
1 person likes this
@luzamper (1357)
• Philippines
8 Mar 07
You are too industrious. You may get sick for working so hard and lacking the necessary sleep and rest. Make a better schedule for what's the use of working if in the end you will get sick. Your earnings might not even be enough for your expenses if you go to the hospital.
@figogary2005 (65)
• Australia
8 Mar 07
you should have a good time management. Otherwise you will be exhausted.
@mommy2jason922 (529)
• United States
8 Mar 07
yes you can. since your body isnt getting enough rest, you cant fight infections as easily so if you get a cold, then it will take longer to fight off and you will prob. feel worse.
1 person likes this
@djaboo32 (45)
• United States
8 Mar 07
Of course, lack of sleep can lower the immune system's defenses. I use to be w super work aholic in my younger days- But I was sure to get my beauty sleep ---at least 8 hours-- but of course I was always late to school- I didn't get more sick because of it though- I probably averaged between 50 hours of work a week and then school ans an internship - but of course I would sleep dduring my class breaks and work breaks-seem to work great for me when I was younger- Now I can get by on about 7 hours and 40 hours work.
1 person likes this
@Archangel31 (192)
• United States
8 Mar 07
Yes you can - Lack of sleep weakens your body's immune functions.
