Insomnia is a health condition that manifests itself through difficulty in falling asleep or falling asleep but failing to stay asleep for a reasonable time. Medics employ two classes of categorizations for insomnia, these are, the cause and the duration. The former class includes primary and secondary insomnia while the latter class includes acute and chronic. Primary insomnia relates to sleeping problems that cannot be related to any health conditions while the secondary insomnia is the sleeping problems which can be related to a particular health condition. On the other hand, acute insomnia lasts for a limited duration say two weeks while chronic insomnia could last for years. However, the subject of this paper shall be limited to the physical effects of insomnia. Predictably, the lack of sleep and or insufficient sleep would have a direct bearing on the physical abilities of an individual. In simpler terms, an individual with good sleeping patterns would most likely tackle physical activities more efficiently as compared to an insomniac. This, therefore, calls for an analysis of some of the limitations that insomnia occasions on persons and the extent to which such limitations can be contained.
Foremost, insomnia has a direct effect on the speech of an individual. An insomniac would likely be talking while half asleep and half awake. This occasions an uncoordinated and unstructured speech mannerism. The speech would likely sound slurred and in many cases make little to no sense. This typically happens because the person has a lower attention span. In addition, the cognition and coordination function of the body is low hence the inability to converse fluently. Insomniacs’ senses of hearing and talking can, therefore, be said to be less alert and conscious of the environment. In overall, the speech which goes along with the hearing is poor hence slurred versions. Often, it is essential to recommend rest for such persons. The slurred speech in many occasions is the external indicator of the mess inside. That is to say, the brain is probably unable to function and coordinate well.
Other than hearing and speech, another physical dysfunction typical in insomniacs relates to sight. Insomniacs hardly see the picture the way it is. In many cases, their vision is blurred and double in nature. This is to say, they see vague and blurred images of what is actually clear and sometimes bright. This sight impediment is occasioned by inert and inactive body cells responsible for sight. Usually, lack of sleep has a detrimental effect on the body to the effect that cognition and sight are impaired if not incapacitated. In overall, insomniacs have double visions which are vague and blurred in nature. Such kind of visions cannot be trusted in critical areas where sight is of essence. Such situations include driving, surgery, cooking, among other mundane work.
Insomniacs, therefore, have a slow reaction time, low cognition and regular attention lapses. These characteristics conspire to deny them proper performance. The performance of insomniacs in terms of efficiency and delivery is conclusively compromised. This can be explained by the fact that hearing, sight, and speech, among other senses, are arguably dead. In addition, attention lapses are regular implying that the insomniac at times is out of touch with the current state of affairs. This out of touch occurrence could be fatal. Performance, irrespective of the peculiarity of the situation, requires at attentive collected and observant person. All these skills abundantly miss in insomniacs. For this reason, the performance by insomniacs is more often than not poor and flawed.
In that strain, it is essential to appreciate the fact that insomniacs due to the lack sleep often suffer from fatigue and general tiredness. This makes their bodies weak. They generally slacken from performing any activities. This situation could be compounded by regular loss of attention. Interestingly, insomniacs would hardly fall asleep during their loss of attention. Often, they are awake and restless but inattentive and oblivious of their environment.
These characteristics cumulatively make insomniacs the best candidates for accidents. In other words, they form the class of accident prone persons. It is the insomniacs that would most likely fail to apply brakes while driving because they did not see the bumps on the road, it is them who would end up with burning food because they could not see the onions turning black and it is the same insomniacs who would cut their finger because they could not feel the sharp razor tear into their skin. In the same vein, insomniacs have the worst responses to emergencies. They fail to note the veracity and seriousness of a disaster or emergency. Instead, their reaction time is slow and annoyingly reluctant. For that reason, insomniacs would be both the cause and the victims of disasters. Due to their insensitivities and inattentiveness, insomniacs are the worst to be around especially in times of disasters.
The physical effects of insomnia can thus be centered on performance. The abilities of insomniacs in terms of performance are reduced due to their unhealthy condition. The lack of sufficient sleep inactivates the nerves causing fatigue and general tiredness. This results into a state of inattention, inactivity and poor body cognition. Insomniacs should, therefore, keep off activities that need physical and psychological presence. Their indulgence in such activities would probably lead to accidents which could be fatal.
However, it is equally essential to appreciate that the effects of insomnia are not limited to physical inabilities. In fact, the physical effects externally represent internal inabilities. One inability that cuts across the physical and non-physical fronts is the poor brain coordination. Often, without sufficient sleep, brain cells tend to fail and occasion dysfunctions including failure of the body coordination. It is this failure that leads to double vision, slurred speech and improper performance. The failure of the brain to properly function equally causes attention lapses, slowness to reaction and low cognition.
Finally, it is essential to appreciate that the physical inabilities are a symptom of an internal problem of sleep. It is this internal problem that needs to be tackled. Insomnia as a condition is not permanent and can be cured with proper medication. In many cases, patients have ended up overdosing in efforts to catch some sleep. This direction is fatal and generally not advisable. The best way out is to identify the cause of the stress that is taking away the sleep. Dealing with the stress gives a long term solution rather than merely employing the use of sleeping pills as has been the case with many patients. In conclusion, it is imperative to stress the fact that insomniacs must keep away from sensitive activities where the failure to observe any of the motions is fatal.
Works Cited
Roth, Thomas. "Insomnia: Definition, Prevalence, Etiology, and Consequences." Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine 2.2 (2007). <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978319/>.
