
These include melatonin, cortisol, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), prolactin, leptin, and insulin, and their levels vary across the 24-hour day. What controls our sleep?Ī group of hormones are highly regulated by your circadian and sleep-wake cycles. Signals in the environment, like daylight, exercise and temperature, also affect those rhythms. The National Sleep Foundation says a tiny part in your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, along with other natural factors in your body, produce circadian rhythms built around a 24-hour day. Our quality of sleep is tied to our circadian rhythm, which is our body’s biological clock and regulates the timing of when you want to do certain things– like sleep or eat. More specifically, studies show that too little sleep makes you more likely to develop diabetes, cancer, depression, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

The price of missed sleep can be steep, affecting one’s mental health and physical health–even to the point of negatively affecting one’s fertility.Īs females, sleep deprivation negatively affects our menstrual cycles, immune function, mood, hormone balance, memory, and appetite. The numbers are even worse among teenage girls: 71.3 percent of female high school students regularly miss out on good sleep. According to the CDC, 34.8 percent of women regularly do not get at least 7 hours of sleep per night.
