Getting enough sleep is essential for good health and wellbeing. The recommended amount of sleep for adults is between 7 and 9 hours per night. However, many people try to get by on less sleep, operating on just 5 hours or so per night. Can you function properly and stay healthy with so little sleep? Let’s take a look at the effects of chronic sleep deprivation and whether getting just 5 hours is sustainable.
How much sleep do we need?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night for optimal health and functioning. The specific recommendation depends on your age:
- 18-25 years old: 7-9 hours
- 26-64 years old: 7-9 hours
- 65+ years old: 7-8 hours
However, many adults regularly fall short of this recommendation and sleep less than 7 hours per night. A CDC survey found that more than one-third of American adults sleep less than the recommended minimum of 7 hours daily. Getting such insufficient sleep is associated with impaired cognition, productivity, and overall health.
What are the effects of chronic sleep deprivation?
Consistently getting insufficient sleep can lead to impaired functioning and adverse health consequences. Here are some of the effects of chronic sleep deprivation:
- Impaired cognition and performance: Sleep deprivation negatively affects concentration, memory, learning, logical reasoning, and decision-making. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep is linked to reduced cognitive performance.
- Increased mistakes and accidents: Insufficient sleep is associated with more errors and accidents at work and while driving. Drowsy driving causes thousands of fatal crashes each year.
- Weakened immune system: Lack of sleep compromises immune function, making you more susceptible to infections and illness.
- Weight gain and obesity: Sleep deprivation disrupts hormones that regulate hunger and appetite, leading to increased risk of weight gain and obesity.
- Cardiovascular problems: Chronic lack of sleep increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.
- Diabetes: Insufficient sleep alters glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, raising diabetes risk.
- Mental health issues: Sleep deprivation exacerbates anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental health conditions.
- Earlier death: Studies link chronic sleep deprivation with increased mortality risk and shorter lifespan.
Clearly, not getting enough sleep on a regular basis can impair nearly every aspect of your health and functioning.
What are the effects of getting just 5 hours of sleep?
Getting just 5 hours of sleep per night falls significantly below the recommended amount. Here’s an overview of how getting only 5 hours of sleep may affect you:
- Reduced alertness and cognitive performance: With just 5 hours of sleep, most people will experience excessive daytime sleepiness, slower reactions, difficulty concentrating, and more cognitive issues.
- Impaired memory and learning: Sleep facilitates memory consolidation. Just 5 hours prevents the brain from properly storing and retrieving memories.
- Increased stress hormones: Just 5 hours of sleep leads to elevated cortisol and adrenaline, raising inflammation, blood pressure, and heart disease risk.
- Higher risk of illness: Your immune system needs sleep to function properly. Just 5 hours leaves you prone to more frequent colds and infections.
- More mood disturbances: Insufficient sleep is linked to increased irritability, anxiety, depression, and other mood issues.
- Decreased motor coordination: With just 5 hours of sleep, you are likely to have slower reaction times, impaired balance, and less precise motor control.
- Increased risk of obesity: Chronic lack of sleep alters hormones that regulate hunger. This metabolic disruption promotes weight gain when getting just 5 hours.
- Higher risk of diabetes and heart disease: Sleep loss causes metabolic changes that increase the risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
In summary, getting just 5 hours of sleep regularly impairs your cognitive performance, emotional regulation, immune function, metabolic processes, and overall health. The effects compound over time if you continually get insufficient sleep.
Can you function on 5 hours of sleep?
While people can generally function and get through daily activities on just 5 hours of sleep, performance is significantly impaired. Some main issues with functioning on so little sleep include:
- Lower productivity and effectiveness: With just 5 hours of sleep, you’ll likely struggle with motivation, workload management, and completing tasks efficiently at work or school.
- More errors and safety risks: Minimal sleep dulls concentration and reaction time, increasing the likelihood of mistakes that jeopardize safety, such as while driving.
- Worse mood and relationships: Insufficient sleep amplifies irritability and emotional volatility, potentially worsening your relationships and personal life.
- Poorer health choices: Sleep loss is linked to cravings for high-fat, high-sugar foods. It also saps motivation to exercise. Making healthy choices is harder on minimal sleep.
Some people believe they can “get by” on very little sleep. However, lab studies confirm that while you may think you are functioning well, your performance is still significantly degraded when sleeping just 5 hours versus 7-8 hours per night.
Tips for functioning on minimal sleep
Ideally, you should take steps to get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. But sometimes getting sufficient sleep isn’t possible due to work, school, family, or other obligations. Here are some tips that may help you get through periods of minimal sleep:
- Prioritize sleep whenever possible. Going to bed earlier and waking up later can help you maximize sleep time.
- Take short naps. Even brief naps of 10-20 minutes can provide a temporary boost in alertness.
- Avoid long drives. Drowsy driving is extremely dangerous. Use public transportation or a ride service if excessively sleepy.
- Drink coffee strategically. Time your caffeine intake to get energized when you most need it.
- Move around. Even mild physical activity can temporarily improve alertness and performance.
- Expose yourself to bright light. Light signals the brain to stay awake.
- Practice good sleep hygiene. Keep a consistent bedtime routine and limit electronics use before bed.
- Be cautious of impaired performance. Recognize when sleep loss is negatively impacting cognition or coordination.
However, these tips don’t overcome the many downsides of insufficient sleep over the long-term. Prioritizing adequate nightly sleep remains vitally important for health.
The risks of relying on 5 hours of sleep
Getting just 5 hours of sleep on a regular basis carries substantial risks to both mental and physical health. Some major risks include:
- Higher risk of chronic disease. Insufficient sleep raises your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.
- More workplace and driving accidents. Sleep deprivation impairs performance, leading to more errors, crashes, and injuries.
- Impaired brain function. Relying on minimal sleep may accelerate cognitive decline and dementia risk.
- Earlier death. Studies indicate that chronic sleep deprivation is associated with higher mortality risk.
- Mental health issues. Insufficient sleep may trigger or amplify anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses.
- Addiction relapse. Lack of sleep is linked to increased risks of relapsing into drug, alcohol, or nicotine addiction.
Sleep needs vary between individuals, and some people may feel subjectively “fine” on just 5 hours. However, abundant research shows the health dangers of insufficient sleep. Prioritize getting 7-9 hours as often as possible to avoid these risks.
Conclusion
Getting just 5 hours of sleep regularly is unlikely to be sustainable or healthy for most adults in the long-term. While you may be able to temporarily “get by” on minimal rest, your cognitive abilities, emotional regulation, and health will inevitably suffer from chronic sleep deprivation.
Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night whenever possible. Adopt good sleep habits, reduce evening electronics use, and prioritize nightly rest. If you struggle with sleep issues or excessive daytime fatigue, consult your doctor. Getting on track with sufficient, quality sleep is a vital investment in your overall health, wellbeing and functioning.
