Effects on growth: People with sleep deprivation have a lower level of cortisol secretion the night after they failed to get enough sleep, which is caused by lack of slow-wave sleep. Sleep deprivation has positive affect on the part of the brain that regulates stress, digestion, the immune system, mood, sex, etc. At the same time, it has negative affects on growth hormones, as well as on growth generally.
Effect on abilities: Certain studies have shown that people with sleep deprivation have lower abilities than people who get enough sleep. What’s more interesting sleep deprivation can affect our body in ways similar to alcoholic intoxication. For example, a person that has been awake for the past 17-18 hours has the same abilities of a person with a blood alcohol level of .05. In addition to affecting motor skills, sleep deprivation creates higher level of stress, anxiety, and depression, which have their own risks to health and abilities.
Behavior: Children suffering from sleep deprivation are at an increased risk of daytime behavioral problems.
Health: There is a strong link between amounts of sleep, increased accident risk, and injuries and physical complaints. Sleep-deprived adolescents are more likely to start using alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. People lacking sleep are usually responsible for automobile crashes caused by a driver falling asleep for a split second. Lack of sleep increases the risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, stroke and many other physical and physiological conditions.