A CPAP machine keeps airflow going for patients with sleep apnea.

Sleep deprivation can do much more than hurt your productivity; it can damage your health as well. Sleep helps your body repair itself. It also helps your mind absorb the day's learning. When we deprive ourselves of sleep, we notice the effects both mentally and physically.

Short-term effects include fatigue, irritability, careless mistakes, difficulty concentrating, slower reaction times and increased stress. After only a few days of sleep deprivation, the body undergoes changes similar to "fast-forward" aging: memory loss, metabolism problems (with sugar and hormones), and poor athletic performance. If sleep deprivation continues over the long term, it increases the risk of more serious health problems.

Long-term effects include a weakened immune system, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, heart problems and obesity.

A new sleep study provides evidence that the nation's obesity epidemic is being driven by a corresponding decrease in the average number of hours that Americans are sleeping, possibly by disrupting the recently discovered hormones ghrelin and leptin, which regulate appetite.

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	Sleep deprivation Yes, not getting enough sleep really can kill you.

Insufficient sleep is linked to increased risk for colon cancer, breast cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Physiologic studies suggest that a sleep deficit may put the body into a state of high alert, increasing the production of stress hormones and driving up blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Other studies have found that sleep influences the functioning of the lining inside blood vessels, which could explain why people are most prone to heart attacks and strokes during early morning hours.

Scientists have long known that sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy and chronic insomnia, can lead to serious health problems, and reveal that difficulty sleeping may be a red flag for a serious illness. Studies found an increased risk of death among those who slept less than six hours a night.