Sleep and How It Relates to Your Health
In many cultures, like our own, a lack of sleep is seen as a badge of honor of sorts. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” people say, as they grind out 90 hour work weeks, stack every minute of their day with chores and tasks, or cram in every little thing in their day to make “the most out of it”.
Even if you’re not sacrificing sleep for your career or personal life, there’s a good chance that sleep isn’t super high on your priority list. If you’re like many people, you probably stay up late watching Netflix or spending time with friends, especially during these last few weeks of summer.
And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with building your career, watching Netflix, or spending time with friends, it’s a mistake to do those things at the expense of your sleep.
Sure. You already know sleep is critical to survival. But, are you making it a high priority in your life? You might if you really knew the benefits and importance of rest and sleep.
When you’re sleeping well, it’s much easier to manage stress in all areas of your life. We often refer to this as resilience. When we were kids, we were reminded time and again that sleep is important for growing children. We had our own nap time schedules, which we hated, and our parents had to lovingly force us to take a nap. Now that we are all grown up and working and in need of longer hours of sleep we often times find it impossible to take even just a short nap.
With the hustle and bustle we have to face each day, sleep is one of the easiest things that we can compromise. However, experts don’t think it is a good idea.
According to Eric J. Olson M.D. of Mayo Clinic, for an adult to function properly, the optimal amount of sleep they need is 7 to 8 hours of good sleep each night.
We have all heard about the negative effects of sleep deprivation. If you think you are too busy to get enough sleep, think about your priorities and your health. You need to be in good health to function at your best. Try to schedule more hour for sleep and relaxation. The positive effects are endless.
Here are a few benefits and importance of rest and sleep:
☀️Sleep boosts your immune system
When you are young and still in the best of health, you will probably not pay a great deal of attention on whether or not you’re getting enough sleep. Usually, this is because you’re not attuned to the effects…yet. However, several studies show that lack of sleep weakens our immune system in the long run. It also makes our bodies more susceptible to viruses that will cause several ailments. On the other hand, if we pay attention to the importance of rest and sleep and by having a good, regular sleep pattern, it will help keep those viruses at bay and maintain our healthy immune systems.
🧠Sleep improves your memory
Sometimes, it feels like we can’t retain anything we hear, read or see and apparently one of the causes is: you guessed it: lack of sleep. Conversely, getting enough sleep activates something in our brains that will solidify memories.
⚡️Sleep restores and energizes
One of the most obvious benefit of good sleep: increased energy levels. When you don’t get enough sleep, your energy levels plummet, leaving your feeling tired all day. When you’re tired, even simple tasks can become difficult. You’re more easily overwhelmed and often feel irritable for no particular reason. Lack of sleep makes us weak, as we are sure you are probably aware from experience. We tend to get lightheaded and lose our energy when we’ve only had a few minutes of shut-eye. And then once we focus on the importance of rest and sleep and let ourselves get enough sleep, everything will get to back normal.
Why is this so?
Here’s the explanation from Mother Nature Network:
“When you sleep, your body and brain re-energize cells, clear waste and create memories. These processes are key to protecting your overall health and regulating specific functions that guide your mood, appetite, cognitive abilities, and libido.”
The article furthered that, “Hormones, including growth hormones, cortisol, thyroid-stimulating hormones, and insulin peak in the night hours.” These hormones “repair tissues and build muscles, and they’re also essential in functions like appetite control, mood regulation, and sex drive.”
This is why you are usually hungry when you wake up - because your body is at work while you sleep. When you sleep well you wake up feeling well-rested and energized, you’re ready to tackle the day and you have energy for the tasks before you.
❤️Reduced Risk of Heart Disease, Strokes and Type 2 Diabetes
When you think about heart disease and strokes, you probably think about things like your diet and exercise. And while those things are certainly important, sleep is also a significant factor. A meta-study that looked at 15 different studies concluded that a lack of sleep increases the chances of both strokes and heart disease. In addition, there are a number of factors that contribute to developing type 2 diabetes, including sleep loss. In one study, otherwise healthy young men were restricted to four hours of sleep per night. Blood samples showed increases in both insulin levels and insulin-to-glucose ratios, both of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Sleep debt has a harmful impact on carbohydrate metabolism and endocrine function. The effects are similar to those seen in normal aging and, therefore, sleep debt may increase the severity of age-related chronic disorders.
🏃♂️Sleep helps you stay mentally and emotionally fit
Another importance of rest and sleep is that it affects your mental and emotional health. Having a healthy mental and emotional health depends largely on how well you sleep. And most people would attest to this. In fact, when people don’t get enough sleep, they tend to get moody and entertain negativity. A sleepy baby is usually very cranky and irritable, same goes for grown-ups.
👨🏽🎨Sleep improves concentration, creativity and productivity
We all want to be productive and creative, especially at work. But if we are tired and stressed, we cannot expect to hit the same productivity levels as when we are well-rested and stress-free. Studies say that REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep, actually contributes tremendously in making people become more creative. Lack of sleep shuts down our focus and concentration which will then have a big impact on our productivity.
💪Sleep improves your health
Having enough sleep generally helps improve our health, not only our mental and emotional health but our physical health as well. Although sleeping well doesn’t always give us the assurance of getting the best of health, several studies have proven that enough sleep helps us maintain our bodies’ vital functions. Harvard Medical further details how this works: “One of the most important of these functions may be to provide cells and tissues with the opportunity to recover from the wear and tear of daily life. Major restorative functions in the body such as tissue repair, muscle growth, and protein synthesis occur almost exclusively during sleep.
💁♀️Sleep beautifies – it slows down the aging process
Perhaps one of the most interesting benefits of sleep is its ability to delay aging. We all worry about our wrinkles, creases, and lines on our skin. Of course, we all age … but a tired person usually ages before their time … as opposed to someone who is stress-free and relaxed. That person ages gracefully.There are several factors that can help slow down the aging process – and one of them is getting a good night’s sleep regularly.
😄Sleep makes you happier
Just like a cranky baby who is lacking sleep, a sleep-deprived person is usually a not-so-happy person. Lack of sleep can bring out a whole range of negative thoughts. In fact, a new research can cause an anxiety disorder. That’s why you should focus on the importance of rest and sleep – getting enough sleep has a big role in our own happiness.
🍽Sleep can make you eat fewer calories
If you’re one of the millions of people aiming to lose weight, you would be familiar with one of the main challenges that dieters face – that is, how to stop yourself from taking in more calories. The sad truth, though, is that the more you convince yourself to eat less, the more you will be tempted to eat! And that is so frustrating. This is why one you should consider the importance of sleep. Two appetite-regulating hormones, ghrelin and leptin, are thrown out of balance by a lack of sleep, leading to increased appetite and consequent weight gain. Studies say that when you get enough sleep, you tend to eat less calories. And vice-versa. So individuals who are sleep-deprived eat more calories. According to Healthline, the reason behind this is that sleep deprivation disrupts the daily fluctuations in appetite hormones and is believed to cause poor appetite regulation. So, you want to lose weight? Simple. Get more sleep.
All too often, we forget the importance of rest and sleep. We usually treat it as a commodity that we can exchange for something that will give us more value, like working more to get ahead, binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix or hanging out with friends and family. Sometimes we feel like 24 hours in a day is not enough for all the things we want to accomplish; therefore, we feel that we have to compromise our sleep. But, it will take its toll. Sleep is never a waste of time. If anything, sleeping is one of the best things you can do with your time. It makes you more productive, healthier, and happier. It improves your relationships and prolongs your life. Sleep is not something to be avoided, but to be embraced. Just remember, without enough sleep, we all become tall two-year-olds. So go ahead and sleep long and hard. Your life depends on it.
Stay Happy and Healthy ✌️
With Love,
Andrea
