Sleep is good for you in fact it is great for you, something that everyone has to do at some point in a 24-hour period. But how important is it really for your health? Life nowadays is filled with hectic schedules trying to jump from one thing to the next to get something done. When life is hectic most of us will start to lose sleep over it especially if you are trying to get a work out in. It can be even worse if you suffer from some sort of sleep related disease like insomnia or sleep apnea on top of a busy schedule. But if you are trying to promote a healthy life style then getting the right amount of sleep is important. By getting a good night’s sleep it not only promotes a healthy lifestyle but can help with memory and brain function, promotes weight loss, strengthens your immune system, fights inflammation and keeps your heart healthy. So, if you live an active life style and eat right you should also be thinking about your sleeping habits to have a well-rounded diet work out and sleep routine AKA a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
Here is 10 Reason why a good night’s sleep is important for a healthy lifestyle.
Not enough sleep can make you fat.
Yes, it is true, not getting enough sleep at night can lead to weight gain, so all those hard hours at the gym might go to waste if you are not getting the correct amount of sleep. Studies have shown that people with less than 6 hours of sleep a night have a higher body mass index (BMI).
Improve Concentration and Productivity
Sleep helps your brain function better everything from cognition, concentration, performance and productivity can be improve with the correct amount of sleep. Sleep is known to improve problem solving skills and even enhance memory performance overall in both adults and children. Allowing you to learn more at work and be more productive in the long run.
Improve Memory
Sleep can improve memory in two ways firstly sleep deprived people can’t focus their attention properly thus making it harder for them to learn. Secondly sleep allows our brains to recall information throughout the day by using what is called consolidation of sleep. With consolidation sleep our brains remember how to do certain things that we learned thought out the day and tries to store this information while we are sleeping. Things like how to change a bicycle tire or new phrases that you learned in Spanish class all started to get stored while you sleep.
Maximize athletic performance
There is a number of reasons why sleep can affect your athletic performance. Being sleep deprived can reduce your reaction time in fact just one missed night of sleep can reduce your reaction time by 300%. Reduced sleep schedules don’t allow the body to generate and repair cells that have been abused by the physical activity so you won’t be able to recover as fast from physical activity.
Greater Risk of heart disease
If you already suffer from hypertension just missing one night of sleep can elevate blood pressure from the rest of the day. Sleeping a little less than 6 hours a day or sleeping to much which is more then 9 hours per day can increase the risk of coronary heart disease in women. People who suffer from sleep apnea which is waking up regularly throughout the night have been seen to have increased blood pressure compared to those who don’t.
Improves your immune system
Ever notice that when you are sick you can’t seem to get out of bed and need more sleep. Well your immune system is in over drive trying to fight the infection of whatever it maybe. Studies show that people who sleep more while trying to fight an infection stand a hirer chance of getting over the infection quicker.
Diabetes
Without proper sleep there is a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes. With lack of sleep our bodies start to process glucose differently. Glucose is a high energy carbohydrate that cells use for fuel. Studies have shown that when you cut back sleep from 8 to 4 hours over a period of time your body will start to process glucose at a slower rate. This slow rate of processing Glucose leads to the development of type 2 diabetes. So, anyone having less then 5 hours of sleep per night is at risk of developing diabetes.
Mood
Not getting enough sleep is also linked to depression and is one of the major symptoms of Acute Insomnia. It is estimated that nearly 90% of people who are suffering from depression have a sleep related problem. With those who have a sleep problem also have a hirer chance of committing suicide.
Increase Inflammation
Anyone who is getting less then 6 hours of sleep a night is a higher chance of inflammation which is known to lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, premature aging and bowel disease. People who suffer from insomnia or some other form of sleep related issues, will notice a decrease in inflammation and improvement in blood pressure once they get back on a regular sleeping schedule.
Lifespan
Well after taking a look at all the reason why sleeping can be good for you it might be obvious that getting a proper night’s sleep can also increase your lifespan. In fact, studies show that sleeping less then 6 hours per night can increase your likelihood of a premature death by 12%. While people who sleep for more than 9 hours per night have a 30% increase in premature death. So getting those 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night can increase your lifespan.
Conclusion
As you can see there is a lot of health benefits from getting sleep at night and it should be a part of living a healthy lifestyle. Everyone should be aware of the benefits of sleep but for the most part people tend not to mention to their doctors that they aren’t getting enough sleep and doctors tend not to ask questions about their patients sleeping habits. Even though a person sleeping habits can be the cause or one of the leading risk factors for disease. So, by living a full and healthy lifestyle you not only need to eat well and work out but having a proper night’s sleep will go a long way.
