Not getting enough sleep can cause dehydration, says new study

The benefits of adequate sleep range from reducing health risks to better mental health. But when you miss sleep regularly, there are tons of side effects, besides cranky, that inevitably will take you, like dehydration.

A new study, published in the Oxford's Sleep newspaper, suggests that any sleep of less than six hours a night could dehydrate our body. Data showed that people who slept six hours or less per night produced significantly more concentrated urine and could become dehydrated by 16 to 59 percent more than adults. Researchers have indicated that dehydration can also lead to wake up after a bad night's sleep.

Researchers believe their findings could be attributed to a hormone called vasopressinregulates hydration, and is released during the day and night to manage fluid levels in the body.

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"Vasopressin is released faster and later in the sleep cycle," says Asher Rosinger, one of the researchers on the team from Pennsylvania State University. "So, if you wake up earlier, you may miss that window in which a greater amount of hormone is released, disrupting the body's hydration."

Vasopressin ensures that our body does not lose too much water while we sleep. Interestingly, the hormone can actually extract water from our urine in the body. But when a person does not sleep long enough for vasopressin to be released, it causes a knockout effect, leaving a person dehydrated.

The study examined the records of over 25,000 adults in China and the United States, asked about their sleep patterns and collected urine samples to search for "biomarkers linked to the". hydration. " Vasopressin itself was not measured, but its indicators – such as the water content in the urine samples – were.

The researchers believe that the relationship between dehydration and sleep could also be a cyclical problem. If someone's sleep affects their hydration state, dehydration can also affect their sleep.

The best way to combat the negative effects of lack of sleep and dehydration? Keep a little water next to the bed to drink well as soon as you wake up, suggests the study.