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Sleeping little is harmful. But being in a state of sleep deprivation for too long can kill. Understand

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Pain in the joints, eyelids, facial swelling, migraines, symptoms such as a nice hangover. Aside from the psychological effects: hallucinations, difficulty forming sentences, loss of focus. Drug effect? No, it's just what can happen when we experience sleep deprivation for a few days.

• Sleep deprivation potentiates the effect of drugs and favors chemical dependency

The US journalist from The Atlantic Seth Maxon, conducted an experiment when he was 18 years old and was traveling through Europe: he would see how long his body could stand without sleep on Italian espresso coffee. He reports on the newspaper's website that he is not sure how many nights of sleep deprivation he endured due to the increase in hallucinations, but he says it was at least four before he had to stop at the hospital.

According to a report by pulmonologist and sleep specialist, Dr. Steven Feinsilver, humans need seven and a half hours of sleep a night to maintain health. Of course, like everything human, it varies and has its exceptions: surely you know someone who with five hours is ready for a busy day, while others don't work with less than nine hours of rest. Whether this biological need can bend to habit, the specialist does not know how to say, again because it concerns human variables.

To better understand

Sleep is divided into 4 steps:

Phase 1

Transition between wakefulness (awakened state) and sleep, which occurs at dark, when the sleepiness hormone, melatonin, is released;

Level 2

Connecting sleep, light sleep, here the muscles relax and the body temperature drops;

Stage 3

Metabolism slows down and heart and breathing slow down;

REM

Dream phase and deep sleep, with adrenaline spikes due to dream emotions.

Each of these moments of sleep has its function. Phases 1, 2 and 3 are responsible for saving energy, restoring tissue and increasing muscle mass. The REM phase is important for hormonal regulation, storage of day memories and learning.

Researchers have noted, however, that people who take monoamine oxidase inhibitor antidepressants have the side effect of suppressing REM sleep, but do not have memory problems - the same occurs with people who have suffered brain damage that affects or cuts off this stage of sleep. However, other experts warn: it's not that memory depends on REM sleep, but certain memory functions are improved during this period.

Most neurons remain active, as when we are awake, but those responsible for transmitting serotonin (known as the joy hormone - it is responsible for the waking state), norepinephrine and histamine are inactive. One of the theories for the function of REM sleep is the rest of these cells, which are overloaded during the day, due to their numerous functions, in addition to repairing the damage caused by free radicals caused during metabolic processes. This stage of sleep is also essential in infants' brain development, as they have more of this stage per night than adults.

Remember that when a person is awakened in the middle of the night, he goes back to sleep from phase 1, having to go through all other stages until reaching REM; however if she is relaxed and calm this happens in a fast cycle. Another curiosity is that we only remember dreams if we wake up during one of the REM phases, which occur every 70 to 110 minutes of sleep.

Being in a state of sleep deprivation can harm both physically and mentally: psychosis, chronic memory disorders, hypertension, diabetes and sudden mood swings.

Neurologists at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, did a study in 2003, in which a group of volunteers spent three consecutive nights without sleep and another spent 14 nights sleeping for only four to six hours. The result was a huge loss of cognitive abilities in everyone.

In the same year, Japanese researchers at the University of Akita proved that being without sleep causes hypertension and affects the immune system.

At the University of Chicago, researchers observed that rats that had been sleep deprived for weeks on end simply died. It is not known for sure which was the causes death in fact; it could have been hypothermia due to a drop in body temperature, illness from a weakened immune system, or brain damage.

Cases of death like this have already occurred with humans: in July 2012 a football fan spent 11 days awake to watch the European Championship and did not survive. In August 2013, an intern at Banco da América died after working 72 uninterrupted hours.

Epinephrine, dopamine and serotonin are chemicals responsible for mood and behavior. “Mood and sleep use the same neurotransmitters”, so being in a state of sleep deprivation causes the same symptoms as depression, and it is complex to separate the diagnosis from one another.

Can you make up for sleep?

A common myth is that you can “make up” for hours of sleep. An example: if a person sleeps five hours a day from Monday to Friday, when Saturday comes, the person is “owing” 10 or 12 hours of sleep. But to “balance” it would be necessary to sleep the normal seven hours on Saturday, plus the missing hours, and the body does not accept such a long period - it is not healthy either. To truly “make up” it is necessary to rest in a proportion of one to one or one to two: that is, for every night of sleep, the equivalent or double of the number of good nights. It is necessary to re-regulate the so-called Circadian Rhythm or Cycle (from Latin circa diem, about a day) variable by sunlight, tides, in short, the biological rhythm of living beings, also present in us, human beings.

While a person sleeps, their cells undergo repairs that feed them oxygen and glucose. When a person does not go through this process, the organs' reactions to stimuli and instructions are weakened. Every cell needs food and also needs to get rid of its own waste; Adenosine is a substance that accumulates and intoxicates the blood, slowing down a person's pace in proportion to the hours he spends awake.

For this reason, one of the torture techniques used by armies and in times of dictatorship was, and still is, to keep prisoners in a state of sleep deprivation. It leaves no marks, scars, and is an effective way to wring their willpower.

Afghan Mohammed Jawad was held in Guantanamo and for 14 days was transferred from his cell every three hours. This attitude kept him in a state of sleep deprivation and caused him to lose 10% of his body weight and urinate with blood. He filed a lawsuit against the United States government.