Getting good sleep on a consistent basis is essential for the proper functioning of the physical and mental faculties of the body. Most sleep experts recommend about 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep every day to help you recover from the day’s toil and prepare for the upcoming day. Failing to achieve it can lead to a large number of health issues concerning almost every part of your body. Let us therefore look at some interesting facts about sleeping and health to understand the real importance of sleep in our lives.
#01 Manages Body Weight
You do not need to be a fitness expert to realize that your weight reduction diet works its effect only when you stick closely to your sleep schedule. According to this recent review on the relation between sleep and obesity, sleep disturbances and lack of enough sleep are directly responsible for a large number of people experiencing obesity. Lack of sleep can drastically affect the body’s regulation of appetite regulating hormones which make it difficult for a person to maintain the adequate amount of calorie intake. Sleep deprived individuals are also known to crave for foods that are rich in fats and sugars which can throw the body weight off balance.
#02 Reduces Stress
In its normal condition, stress helps the body carry out the day’s tasks efficiently by increasing focus and productivity. However, a poor sleep health can unbalance the body’s stress controlling hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. Within no time, signs of other mental anomalies like depression and anxiety can soon be observed in a sleep deprived individual. The worst part about stress is that it kick starts a cycle where the buildup of stress makes it harder to fall asleep and that in turn leads to further stress accumulation. Performing relaxing pre-bedtime activities like mindful meditation, yoga, reading a book, taking a warm shower, taking a natural supplement from somewhere like Gold Bee, etc., can help reduce the amount of stress that someone carries with them to the bed.
#03 Promotes Daytime Alertness
Sleep deprived individuals often find themselves feeling groggy and disoriented after experiencing a poor night of sleep. This is not only a major cause of decreased productivity and concentration at work places, but also responsible for causing a large number of injuries and accidents. According to this report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, more than a 328,000 accidents are caused each year because of drowsy driving. While most people rely on inducing themselves with caffeine to ward of the drowsiness, it is important to abstain from taking caffeinated products at least 6 hours before bedtime so that the increased stimulation doesn’t end up leading to wakefulness in the night. Concerned individuals should also replace their old and saggy mattress with a supportive and comfortable one to make the process of falling asleep easier. Visit insidebedroom.com to find a vast range of carefully picked mattresses and bedding materials to boost your sleep health.
#04 Improves Memory Consolidation
One of the numerous benefits of sleep care is an improved ability to store and recollect memory. It is crucial to complete the required amount of undisturbed sleep on a regular basis to make sure that the different phases of sleep such as rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and slow-wave sleep (SWS) are able to help the brain reach optimal sleep consolidation. Sleep is therefore the body’s natural function to improving the ability to learn new things and retrieve them when required.
#05 Maintains a Good Heart Health
A good sleep routine is absolutely essential for the upkeep of your heart health. Major sleep disorders like insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea are responsible for causing heart problems like stroke, heart attack, increased blood pressure, and a heightened heart rate. Exercising regularly is therefore not only one of the best natural ways to sleep better but also a great remedy for keeping your heart fit and healthy.
#06 Necessary for Motivation
A good night of sleep is absolutely essential to keep your spirits high and stay motivated throughout the day. By combating stress and daytime drowsiness, good sleep helps recover from fatigue and induces the body with hormones that make you feel good and remain energized. A vast body of research points at the positive effect of sleep on your capacity to put effort for a work. Physical activities like working out, cycling, jogging, etc., are much easier to carry out when your body is well rested and mind is free of tension. On the other hand, failing to get enough sleep can make your mind focus entirely on your sleep deprivation and reduce the drive to carry out other tasks that require energy.
#07 Keeps Your Skin Healthy
We spend so much money and time on cosmetic products and treatments to maintain the natural glow and youth of our skin. However, we must stop to consider that sleeping is the body’s natural process of rejuvenating the skin and detoxing it of all the harmful components that it comes across. Missing out on good sleep can in turn cause a number of skin ailments such as wrinkles, puffy eyes, dark circles, uneven pigmentation, etc. Make sure you use beddings and pillow cases made of breathable and comfy material like cotton, silk, sati, etc., to prevent fine lines and wrinkles caused by creases. Keep your bedroom cool and ensure that your bed is free of dirt and allergens to prevent cases of rashes, acne breakouts, and pimples. Setting up a suitable sleeping environment is therefore paramount for maintaining the suppleness and radiance of your delicate skin.
#08 Develops Immunity
With more and more emerging studies that establish a clear link between sleep health and body immunity, a lot of our readers ask us how to get deeper sleep. Night sleep helps develop the immune response by strengthening the production of cytokines, increasing resistance against antigens, combating allergens, and much more. Whether it’s a seasonal flu or an allergic reaction, a viral infection or a case of inflammation, the way your body handles the crisis depends largely on how good your sleep health is.
Bottom line: The aforementioned benefits of a good quality sleep showed us how important it is to sleep well for the healthy living of our entire family. We hope that this will help you take positive steps towards improving your lifestyle in a way that supports good sleep health.
These are some great motivators to get more sleep! We tend to go to bed late and I never sleep through the night, we need a better sleep schedule.