Sleep is one of those simple yet powerful tools which is truly a health weapon. A good night’s sleep makes you feel much healthier and allows you to function better throughout your day. When you have good sleeping habits, it has a domino effect on every aspect of your life. You’ll feel more alert, energetic and motivated to make other positive lifestyle changes. So sleep for the health of it!
Sleep is needed to regenerate the body. When you don’t get enough, your body doesn’t heal. The body’s immune system is actually weakened without sleep which not only causes you to be sick but it also causes you to age prematurely. It is time to make sleep a priority and look upon it as you would any other essential nutrient that affects virtually every aspect of your life.
Make sleep as essential as eating, exercising or anything else that you consider important to your health. It makes you feel better, but its importance goes way beyond just boosting your mood or banishing under-eye circles. Adequate sleep is a key part of a healthy lifestyle, and can benefit your heart, weight, mind, and more.
Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.
The way you feel while you're awake depends mostly on what happens while you're sleeping.
During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development. The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant or it can harm you over time. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.
While you're sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It's forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information.
Whether you're learning math, starting a business, how to perfect your golf swing, or how to drive a car, sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills.
While you're sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It's forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information.
Whether you're learning math, starting a business, how to perfect your golf swing, or how to drive a car, sleep helps enhance your learning and problem-solving skills.
Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions, and be creative. Sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change. Sleep deficiency also has been linked to depression. Children and teens who are sleep deficient may have problems getting along with others.
They may feel angry and impulsive, have mood swings, feel sad or depressed, or lack motivation. They also may have problems paying attention, and they may get lower grades and feel stressed. Sleep also plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels.
Sleep helps maintain a healthy balance of the hormones that make you feel hungry (ghrelin) or full (leptin). When you don't get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you're well-rested. It also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose (sugar) level.
Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes. Deep sleep also supports healthy growth and development. It triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility.
Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections.
Getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps you function well throughout the day. People who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes. After several nights of losing sleep—even a loss of just 1–2 hours per night—your ability to function suffers as if you haven't slept at all for a day or two.
Lack of sleep also may lead to microsleep. Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you're normally awake. You can't control microsleep, and you might not be aware of it. For example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip? If so, you may have experienced microsleep.
Even if you're not driving, microsleep can affect how you function. If you're listening to a lecture, for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don't understand the point. In reality, though, you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it.
Drivers aren't the only ones affected by sleep deficiency. It can affect people in all lines of work, including health care workers, pilots, students, lawyers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. It impairs your cognition, your attention, and your decision-making. It prevent day time mistakes like leaving keys in the fridge by accident.
As a result, sleep deficiency is not only harmful on a personal level, but it also can cause large-scale damage. For example, sleep deficiency has played a role in human errors linked to tragic accidents, such as nuclear reactor meltdowns, grounding of large ships, and aviation accidents.
Of course, not getting enough sleep can affect your love life in less direct ways too. If you're a person who's so exhausted you're falling asleep during a date at the movies, that's not good. Many things that we take for granted are affected by sleep. If you sleep better, you can certainly live better. It’s pretty clear.
Your mind is surprisingly busy while you sleep. During sleep you can strengthen memories or "practice" skills learned while you were awake (it’s a process called consolidation). If you are trying to learn something, whether it’s physical or mental, you learn it to a certain point with practice, but something happens while you sleep that makes you learn it better.
Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds. For example, if you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble fighting common infections.
Getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps you function well throughout the day. People who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes. After several nights of losing sleep—even a loss of just 1–2 hours per night—your ability to function suffers as if you haven't slept at all for a day or two.
Lack of sleep also may lead to microsleep. Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you're normally awake. You can't control microsleep, and you might not be aware of it. For example, have you ever driven somewhere and then not remembered part of the trip? If so, you may have experienced microsleep.
Even if you're not driving, microsleep can affect how you function. If you're listening to a lecture, for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don't understand the point. In reality, though, you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it.
Drivers aren't the only ones affected by sleep deficiency. It can affect people in all lines of work, including health care workers, pilots, students, lawyers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. It impairs your cognition, your attention, and your decision-making. It prevent day time mistakes like leaving keys in the fridge by accident.
As a result, sleep deficiency is not only harmful on a personal level, but it also can cause large-scale damage. For example, sleep deficiency has played a role in human errors linked to tragic accidents, such as nuclear reactor meltdowns, grounding of large ships, and aviation accidents.
Of course, not getting enough sleep can affect your love life in less direct ways too. If you're a person who's so exhausted you're falling asleep during a date at the movies, that's not good. Many things that we take for granted are affected by sleep. If you sleep better, you can certainly live better. It’s pretty clear.
Your mind is surprisingly busy while you sleep. During sleep you can strengthen memories or "practice" skills learned while you were awake (it’s a process called consolidation). If you are trying to learn something, whether it’s physical or mental, you learn it to a certain point with practice, but something happens while you sleep that makes you learn it better.
Feeling Forgetful?
Sleep loss could be to blame. Studies have shown that while we sleep, our brains process and consolidate our memories from the day. If you don't get enough sleep, it seems like those memories might not get stored correctly -- and can be lost. In other words if you’re trying to learn something new—whether it’s Spanish or a new tennis swing—you’ll perform better after sleeping.
In addition to consolidating memories, or making your brain stronger, your brain appears to reorganize and restructure, which may result in more creativity as well.
Researchers at Harvard University and Boston College found that people seem to strengthen the emotional components of a memory during sleep, which may help spur the creative process. If you’re an athlete, there may be one simple way to improve your performance: sleep.
If you are thinking about going on a diet, you might want to plan an earlier bedtime too. Sleep and metabolism are controlled by the same sectors of the brain. When you are sleepy, certain hormones go up in your blood, and those same hormones drive appetite.
Getting enough sleep could help you maintain your weight -- and conversely, sleep loss goes along with an increased risk of weight gain. Why? Part of the problem is behavioural. If you're overtired, you might be less likely to have the energy to go for that jog or cook a healthy dinner after work.
The other part is physiological. The hormone leptin plays a key role in making you feel full. When you don't get enough sleep, leptin levels drop. Result: people who are tired are just plain hungrier -- and they seem to crave high-fat and high-calorie foods specifically.
When it comes to our health stress, sleep are nearly one and the same—and both can affect cardiovascular health.
Sleep can definitely reduce levels of stress, and with that people can have better control of their blood pressure. It’s also believed that sleep effects cholesterol levels, which plays a significant role in heart disease. Getting enough sleep won't guarantee a sunny disposition. But you have probably noticed that when you're exhausted, you're more likely to be cranky.
In addition to consolidating memories, or making your brain stronger, your brain appears to reorganize and restructure, which may result in more creativity as well.
Researchers at Harvard University and Boston College found that people seem to strengthen the emotional components of a memory during sleep, which may help spur the creative process. If you’re an athlete, there may be one simple way to improve your performance: sleep.
If you are thinking about going on a diet, you might want to plan an earlier bedtime too. Sleep and metabolism are controlled by the same sectors of the brain. When you are sleepy, certain hormones go up in your blood, and those same hormones drive appetite.
Getting enough sleep could help you maintain your weight -- and conversely, sleep loss goes along with an increased risk of weight gain. Why? Part of the problem is behavioural. If you're overtired, you might be less likely to have the energy to go for that jog or cook a healthy dinner after work.
The other part is physiological. The hormone leptin plays a key role in making you feel full. When you don't get enough sleep, leptin levels drop. Result: people who are tired are just plain hungrier -- and they seem to crave high-fat and high-calorie foods specifically.
When it comes to our health stress, sleep are nearly one and the same—and both can affect cardiovascular health.
Sleep can definitely reduce levels of stress, and with that people can have better control of their blood pressure. It’s also believed that sleep effects cholesterol levels, which plays a significant role in heart disease. Getting enough sleep won't guarantee a sunny disposition. But you have probably noticed that when you're exhausted, you're more likely to be cranky.
That's not all. Not getting enough sleep affects your day. So get a good night sleep or sleep when the time is right. Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Having healthy sleep habits is often referred to as having good “sleep hygiene.”
Keep The Following Sleep Practices On A Consistent Basis:
Stick to a sleep schedule of the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends. This helps to regulate your body's clock and could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night. Go to bed at the same time every night – Give yourself a scheduled bedtime or before long your awake time will be squeezing its way into sleep time.
Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual. A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep.
If you have trouble sleeping, avoid naps, especially in the afternoon. Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can't fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help.
Evaluate your room. Design your sleep environment to establish the conditions you need for sleep. Your bedroom should be cool – between 60 and 67 degrees. Your bedroom should also be free from any noise that can disturb your sleep. Finally, your bedroom should be free from any light. Check your room for noises or other distractions.
Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows. Make sure your mattress is comfortable and supportive. The one you have been using for years may have exceeded its life expectancy – about 9 or 10 years for most good quality mattresses. Have comfortable pillows and make the room attractive and inviting for sleep but also free of allergens that might affect you and objects that might cause you to slip or fall if you have to get up during the night.
Wind down. Your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity such as reading. For some people, using an electronic device such as a laptop can make it hard to fall asleep, because the particular type of light emanating from the screens of these devices is activating to the brain. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid electronics before bed or in the middle of the night.
Unplug – Make sure you are not doing anything but relaxing, journaling or reading an hour before going to bed. That means no electronics. Doing so allows your body to release the hormone melatonin which helps to get you to sleep. If you can't sleep, relax until you feel sleepy. It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment. Use your bed only for sleep to strengthen the association between bed and sleep.
Here are other tips for getting the right amount and quality of sleep you need.
Keeping your room temperature on the cooler side and using an air purifier can improve the way you breathe and ultimately the way you sleep;
Also drinking caffeine can prolong the time it takes you to fall asleep and can decrease the time that you stay asleep.
Here are other tips for getting the right amount and quality of sleep you need.
Keeping your room temperature on the cooler side and using an air purifier can improve the way you breathe and ultimately the way you sleep;
Also drinking caffeine can prolong the time it takes you to fall asleep and can decrease the time that you stay asleep.
