Why Good Sleep Is One of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Health

 

One of the foremost important belongings you can do for overall health and well-being is: sleep.

Healthy sleep is important for optimum energy, immunity, cognitive ability and physical strength and resilience. Good sleep helps to slow the aging process and reduce risk of illness and disease—everything from the cold to heart condition .

While you’re asleep, your body works to:

• repair tissues (including those involved in muscle growth and healing injuries)
• regulate hormone levels (including people who control appetite, metabolism and stress)
• form new pathways in your brain for learning and memory
• process and regulate emotions

Given the essential work the body does during sleep, lack of sleep can noticeably affect all bodily functions.

THE IMPACT OF SLEEP LOSS ON YOUR HEALTH

Routinely sleeping but 6-7 hours per night can have serious health impacts:

WEIGHT GAIN

Leptin, your satiety hormone, is significantly reduced once you are sleep deprived. Since leptin governs appetite and metabolism, low levels of this hormone leads to hunger not being naturally suppressed. Therefore, your appetite and cravings increase. people that sleep less are more likely to be overweight, and weight loss efforts are less effective when sleep deprived—more weight loss comes from lean muscle mass instead of fat.

WEAKENED system

Without sleep, your system doesn't function optimally. Inflammatory proteins rise, which decreases your immune reaction and causes you to more vulnerable to illness and infection.

INCREASED RISK OF DIABETES

Blood sugar levels rise in response to lower levels of insulin being released throughout the night. Impaired glucose tolerance can increase your risk of diabetes.

INCREASED RISK OF heart condition AND STROKE

Poor sleep increases your pulse and systolic vital sign . Combined with less plant tissue repair (which happens during sleep), this increases the danger of heart condition and stroke.

REDUCTION IN CANCER-FIGHTING CELLS

Poor sleep impairs “natural killer cells”—immune cells that keep a lookout for and attack malignant cancer cells within the body.

INCREASED RISK OF INJURY

When exhausted, your brain isn't functioning with full awareness and concentration and you've got an increased risk of accidents and injury, including stubbing your toe, cutting yourself within the kitchen, or stepping into a car accident.

INCREASED STRESS HORMONE LEVELS

Sleep loss leads to elevated cortisol levels, which further increases your risk of developing diabetes, heart condition , system suppression, fertility problems and weight gain.

IMPAIRED COGNITIVE FUNCTION

Without sufficient sleep, your mental performance suffers, impairing your ability to process new information and memories and impacting your overall mood, focus and high-level cognitive function.

TROUBLE MANAGING EMOTIONS

Without sufficient rest, you'll have trouble understanding or dealing with your emotions. Increased feelings of irritability, anxiety, sadness and anger are common. Without the emotional regulation that happens during sleep, you'll swing more heavily between positive and negative emotions.

REDUCED REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Poor sleep results in lower sperm count and testosterone levels in men. Women who don’t sleep well may have irregular menstrual cycles, reduced ability to urge pregnant, and are more likely to miscarry within the trimester .

With all the essential physiological functioning and repair that happens during sleep, emphasis on good sleep is one among the primary and best belongings you can do to enhance your overall health and well-being.

BENEFITS OF QUALITY SLEEP

• Increased energy
• Strengthened system
• Heightened alertness, focus and creativity
• Improved mood
• Improved physical performance and skill to create muscle
• Increased libido
• Increased motivation to form beneficial lifestyle choices (cooking, exercise, self-care, etc.)

Sleep is that the single best thing we will do to reset our brain and body health every day .

HOW MUCH SLEEP does one REALLY NEED?

Everyone requires quality sleep for optimal health and well-being, but the amount of hours can vary counting on individual and age bracket . The National Sleep Foundation and Centers for Disease Control recommend 7-9 hours for adults.

EARLY BIRDS & NIGHT OWLS

Although we all have approximately an equivalent 24-hour biological time that governs our sleep patterns, there's some variance within the timing of those rhythms.

Early birds like better to awaken at or around dawn and performance optimally at this point (40% of the population falls during this category). Night owls prefer getting to bed late and awakening late (this accounts for about 30% of the population). The remaining 30% feel best somewhere in between.

Your biological time leaning is strongly determined by genetics. Unfortunately, night owls tend to be more chronically sleep-deprived thanks to modern school and work schedules.