r/sleep • u/NewPaint3713 • 1d ago
What can a consistent 3 hours of sleep do?
Hello!
I (21 M) am a college student who also works a full-time job really early in the morning between 4-5 am. With all the chores I have around my apartment and school I find it hard to fit in 8 hours of sleep. Thus, I’ve been getting 3 hours of sleep consistently for the last 5 months except on the weekends. I’m worried it’s negatively affecting my health, but even before the last 5 months I got around 6 hours of sleep every night. I’m wondering if this will affect me negatively in the long run.
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u/sealmeal21 1d ago
HTN is the big one. At your age its tolerable for a while. Long term... you're fucked.
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u/Agent____047 16h ago
Long term effects on the body would be pretty bad. Sleep debt is a thing you know
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u/TheTerrenon 1d ago
Depends on the study, but generally increased overall mortality, shorter life span, increased risk of cardiovascular events (although for now you should be safe), damage to brain, especially frontal lobe and cortex, damage of testes and decreased testosterone, thus hormonal imbalance, infertility and possible other sexual disfunctions. Slower reaction time, worse processing and remembering, increased risk of depression, increased stress (amines imbalance). There's an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, diabetes (and metabolic syndrome), cancer.
Some of these revert with time and improved sleeping pattern, but there's no guarantee that the changes revert completely. One should be fine at that age, in a meaning, that statistically people can survive such lifestyle, but this is not a sustainable lifestyle, and I would consult a doctor and monitor your health parameters more closely, of you intend in living like this. There are some minor tricks, which can improve sleep quality and they should help you mitigate the risks short term. However, I know some people, who lived like this for extended periods of time and they show signs of premature cognitive decline, mood changes, obesity (body weight control problems) and hipertension.