10 Reasons why your sleep matters
We all know that sleeping is incredibly important for our health and wellbeing, it is as much as important as good, healthy diet and exercising. Unfortunately, these days where stress can enter our fairly occupied lives, there is a lot that can interfere with the natural way we sleep.
People nowadays are sleeping way less than they used to in the past and most of all, the quality of that sleep has decreased dramatically.
Here you will find 10 reasons why good sleep matters.
- Bad or poor sleep is proven to be linked to higher body weight
People, who sleep short durations tend to weight significantly more than the ones who get enough sleep. In fact, short sleep duration is one of the strongest reasons and risk factors linked to obesity. The effect of sleep on the weight gain is connected to hormones and motivation to exercise. If you are currently trying to tackle your weight, get some quality sleep.
- These who sleep well tend to eat fewer calories
People who tend to sleep poorly have much bigger appetite and tend to consume more calories. Poor sleep simply affects hormones that regulate appetite. Those who get enough sleep will need less calories to go through their day.
- Sleeping well can improve concentration and productivity
Sleep is a very important factor for our brain functionality. That includes cognition, concentration, productivity as well as focus and performance. Good sleep is capable of maximising your problem solving skills and will enhance your memory.
- Good sleep can maximise your exercising performance
If you get enough sleep, you will rest properly and that will lead to improved speed, accuracy, reaction times as well as your mental well being. If sport is something which plays a key role in your life, get more quality sleep to ensure your body clock boxes are all ticked.
- Not enough sleep over a long period of time can lead to heart disease and stroke
You should really get between 7 and 8 hours of sleep every night and that sleep should be of a quality, meaning no noises, no light, no disturbances. If you are sleeping less all the time, you are putting yourself in risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.
- Sleep is responsible for glucose metabolism and risk of type 2 diabetes
Sleep restriction affects blood sugar and reduces insulin sensitivity. Study shown that young, healthy man who restricted their sleep to 4 hours per night, only for a period of 6 nights in a row got symptoms of pre diabetes. These symptoms disappeared only after one week of having decent sleep.
- Poor sleep can result in depression
If you are not getting enough of sleep, a quality of your mental health is decreasing heavily. If we look at what depressed people have in common, we will observe that 90% of them complaint about sleep quality.
- Sleep will boost your immune system
If you often feel unwell and frequently getting colds, ensure that you provide yourself with 8 hours of sleep per night and this will significantly improve your immune system. Your body use time over night to eliminate any red flags in your body, allowing it to work properly you will gain massive health boosters.
- Poor sleep is directly linked to increased inflammation
If you don’t sleep enough your body is at risk of activating inflammation and damaging your cells. Even IBS (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) has been strongly linked to the poor sleeping habits.
- Sleep affects your social life and your mood
Sleep will reduce your ability to interact with friends, family and coworkers, your focus would not be in place when you need it and your mood will be quite visible if you don’t get enough sleep.
Are you sleeping enough? What is the quality of your sleep? Are you using any tools or applications to improve your sleeping patterns? Feel free to let me know in the comments section below.
All the best,
Lucas
