Sleep Well- For Good Health – Do you have a feeling of being crabby lately? Do you often feel that the tetchy, worn out, and lethargic feelings have taken a toll on your daily life? Just recall how long have you been sleeping lately! Is it something like 4-5 hours of sleep and that too a disturbed one?
Lifestyles today are more demanding than ever. There can be innumerable factors that can interfere with a good night’s sleep. For instance, work pressure, family responsibilities, unexpected losses in life, layoffs, relationship issues, death of a near one, issues with your child, or any kind of short-term or long-term illness and so on. With these pressures and challenges, getting quality sleep sometimes becomes elusive.
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Sleep and Good Health
There is a heap of scientific evidence to explain the importance of sleep for good health and general well-being. Getting the recommended sleep over the night can make us feel ready to take on the world with full energy and enthusiasm the next day.
The way you feel during the day depends on the quality of sleep you’ve had the night before. While you sleep, your body works to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. Sleep also helps support growth and development in children and teens
Let’s explore the benefits of having a good night’s sleep:
Lower Stress
Sleep helps your mind to relax and rejuvenate. Having about eight hours of sound sleep every day helps reduce stress levels, which directly has a positive impact on your overall health. Teenagers and children who go without adequate sleep for a few days or weeks generally start having problems getting along with their parents or peers. They may show signs of emotional behavior changes like mood swings, angry and impulsive behavior, feelings of depression and sadness, attention problems, and lack of confidence which may also result in lower grades.
Sleep and the Diabetes Link
Sleep plays a very important role in your physical health. And guess what? If you’re sleep deprived, your body develops some conditions that resemble the insulin resistance mechanism in diabetes. According to research, people in their late 20s and early 30s who slept less than 6.5 hours per night had developed the insulin sensitivity of a person around 60 years of age. Sleep deficiency affects how your body reacts to insulin, resulting in a higher than normal blood glucose level, which may increase your risk for diabetes.
Sleep May Help You Lose Weight
Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of obesity. Several types of research have found that people who sleep less than 7 to 8 hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. Adequate sleep helps maintain the balance of hormones that affect your appetite and make you feel hungry or full. These hormones ghrelin and leptin have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. So, to keep your weight under tab, don’t forget to pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.
Sleep Boosts Your Memory
Research suggests that sleep plays an important role in memory; both before and after you learn a new task. Lack of adequate sleep, i.e. less than 7 to 8 hours a day, affects mood, motivation, judgment, and our perception of events. Getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better. So if you’re trying to learn something new-a guitar lesson- Spanish or a new art, a sport-you’ll perform better after sleeping.
Sleep for Better Emotional Well-Being
Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain will make hampers your emotional state. If you are sleep deficient, you may have trouble in decision-making, solving problems, keeping your emotions under control, controlling your behavior, and coping with change. Lack of sleep has also been linked to depression which may lead to suicide in some cases.
Sleep affects Daytime Performance and Safety
Research has proved that people who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. As they do not get enough quality sleep, it elongates the time they take to finish up the tasks, have a slower reaction time, and tend to make more mistakes.
Lack of sleep may also lead to a condition known as “microsleep.” Microsleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you’re normally awake. It can be an involuntary action that you might not be aware of. For example, if you haven’t had your dose of sleep the night before, and attend a lecture the next morning, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don’t understand the point. In reality, you may have slept through that part of the lecture without being aware of it.
Sleep deficiency is not only harmful on an emotional and physiological level, but it also can cause large-scale damage. For instance, sleep deficiency leads to human errors linked to tragic accidents on the road, grounding of large ships, and aviation accidents.
Helps fight Depression
Having a good night’s sleep is directly proportional to our overall well-being. It helps you deal with problems like irritability, anxiety, and others and helps you be more emotionally stable. As it helps you maintain a balance of mind during challenging and turbulent times in life.
Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. If you get enough quality sleep in a routine, it can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. After getting a crack on all these benefits, do remember to go off to sleep on time today!