We live in a time where our lives are so full and hectic, that often sleep gets dropped further down the ladder of important things to do. That, mind you, can be a life-altering mistake.
So you ask: why is sleep important? Why is it important to sleep well?
A great night’s worth of sleep is essential to improving or maintaining your health. As a matter of fact, many studies have shown that sleep is equally as crucial as eating right and exercising on a regular basis. However, today’s environment has become very disruptive towards our natural sleep habits and people are now getting less and reduced sleep quality than ever before.
10 Reasons Why Sleeping is Essential for Your Health
If you are keen on finding out just how important sleep is to your health and wellness, here are 10 great reasons.
1. Poor Quality of Sleep Can Lead to Weight Gain
Poor quality of sleep has direct correlations to weight gain. According to research, those that have short sleep duration are likely to weigh considerably more compared to those that have sufficient sleep. And as a matter of fact, inadequate sleep is considered to be one of the leading factors to obesity.
One particular study showed that children that do not get sufficient sleep were 89% more likely to suffer obesity. On the other hand, adults that had short sleep had a 55% chance of becoming more obese.
The correlation between sleep and weight gain is due to a number of elements such as hormones and desire to exercise. And so, if one of your goals is to lose weight, perhaps you should seriously consider getting the right amount of sleep.
2. People That Sleep Well Tend to Consume Fewer Calories
Research shows that people that do not get the right amount of sleep tend to eat more and consume more calories. This is because the deprivation of sleep obstructs the daily flow of hormones that regulate appetite, which leads to increased levels of ghrelin — a key hormone that stimulates appetite — and leptin — the hormone tasked with suppressing appetite.
3. Good Sleep Quality Can Bolster Focus and Productivity
Getting a good night’s worth of sleep is important to help different aspects of your brain function at its peak. Whenever you wake up feeling energized, this impacts your brain’s cognition, focus, performance as well as productivity, basically ensuring better work performance for that day.
Depriving yourself of sleep, on the other hand, negates all these, as shown by a study conducted on medical interns. Research showed that interns with a traditional schedule that saw them work for more than 24 hours made more serious medical errors compared to interns that worked with more sleep. Another study also indicated that a short amount of sleep can have some adverse effects on your brain’s function, similar to that of alcohol intoxication.
Getting a healthy amount of sleep has been proven to enhance problem-solving capabilities and bolster memory performance in children and adults.
4. Getting Good Sleep Can Enhance Athletic Performance
Whether you are a serious athlete or a weekend warrior, getting a good amount of sleep can make a world of difference in your performance. A study done on basketball players showed that those that had longer sleep were faster, more accurate with their shots and were more aware out on the floor. Basically, if you sleep longer and better, you’ll be able to reap many benefits especially when you are out on the playing field competing.
5. Poor Sleepers are More Likely to Suffer from Heart Disease
It is a well-known fact that your quality and duration of sleep can have a significant impact on a lot of risk factors to your health, which includes heart disease. This claim is backed by research that concluded that people who do not get enough rest or sleep are more likely to suffer from heart disease or a stroke than those who regularly sleep anywhere between seven to eight hours every night.
6. Sleep Impacts the Metabolism of Glucose
A study done on strapping young men showed that sleep that is limited to just four hours for six nights in a row led to symptoms of prediabetes. However, those adverse effects were remedied after an entire week of longer sleep. In addition, research also shows that people who sleep for less than six hours every night are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
7. Poor Sleep is Linked to Mental Health Issues
The problem of mental health has become a hot-button topic these days. And the fact of the matter is: mental health problems like depression are linked to poor sleep quality and other sleeping problems. Projections show that 90% of people that suffer from depression complain about their lack of sleep or poor sleep quality. Worse, poor sleep is even linked to death by suicide.
8. Sleep Can Improve Immune Function
Studies show that even the slightest loss of sleep can have a considerable impact on immune function. A two-week study proved this as people that slept less than seven hours were at higher risk of developing the cold compared to those that slept for eight hours or even more. This is a crucial finding as if you find yourself getting the cold more and more, getting more than eight hours of sleep could be the solution that you are looking for.
Increased Inflammation Can Be Traced to Poor Sleep
Sleep can strongly impact inflammation inside your body. As a matter of fact, the loss of sleep has been known to trigger inflammation markers inside your body as well as cell damage.
Poor quality of sleep has actually been linked to inflammation inside the digestive tract and other disorders involving your gut. Another study indicated that people that have Crohn’s disease who do not get enough sleep are more likely to suffer a relapse than those who sleep pretty well.
Sleep Impacts Your Social Interactions
Sleep deprivation has an adverse effect on the quality of your social interactions. This claim was actually confirmed by a number of studies that utilized tests involving facial recognition. The research showed that those that had not slept well were not able to properly recognize clear indicators of either anger or happiness. This confirms the claim that poor sleep quality negatively impacts your ability to identify crucial social markers and process emotional data.
Sleep Recommendations
The National Sleep Foundation has published an updated list of recommendations for proper sleep durations amongst different age groups.
The report suggests broader sleep ranges for a wide array of age groups. The results are as follows:
- Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours each day
- Infants (4-11 months): 12-15 hours each day
- Toddlers (1-2 years): 11-14 hours each day
- Preschoolers (3-5): 10-13 hours each day
- School-age children (6-13): 9-11 hours each day
- Teenagers (14-17): 8-10 hours each day
- Younger adults (18-25): 7-9 hours each day
- Adults (26-64): 7-9 hours each day
- Older adults (65+): 7-8 hours each day
Tips for Better Sleep
1) Create an environment that is conducive for sleeping
It is essential that you make your room cool, dark and most of all, quiet. Try to limit the use of light-emitting screens right before you shut your eyes. And should you need it, try to use room-dimming shades or even earplugs — basically anything to create a sleep-inducing area.
2) Consistent physical activity can help you sleep better
Engaging in consistent physical activity each day can help you sleep better at night. However, try not to get a good sweat in right before bedtime.
3) Relax or meditate before sleeping
People actually have a routine that helps them prepare their mind and body for a good night’s worth of sleep. These may include listening to relaxing music, taking a warm bath or even meditating. We suggest you try different methods to find which one suits you best.
4) Set the right sleeping schedule
Try to go to bed at the same time each and every night. Try to wake up at the same time as well. Being consistent with your sleeping schedule would actually help your body stick to its sleep-wake cycle.
5) Find the right mattress
At the end of the day, a relaxing environment would not matter if the mattress you are sleeping on were lousy. Bed quality matters and research shows that new bedding actually helps you sleep better. Conversely, poor bedding can result in lower back pain. Experts say that it is imperative that you replace your mattress at least once every decade.
Mattress Recommendations
If you have noticed that you have not replaced your mattress in quite some time, this can be your opportunity to do so. And you have come to the right place, as we have conducted extensive mattress reviews on a wide array of brands to help you find the best one.
Here is our list of recommendations depending on your need and sleep type:
- Back Sleeper
- Side Sleeper
- Stomach Sleeper
- Affordable Mattress
- Back Pain Problems
- Firm Mattress
- Soft Mattress
