The recommendation for adults aged between 18 – 60 is to aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night, any less, and you run the risk of becoming sleep deprived. Prioritising sleep will benefit your body in countless ways; reduced stress, good heart health and improved memory among them.
During sleep, our body produces proteins called cytokines. These immune-boosting proteins serve as fuel for our white blood cells. When we operate on a sleep deficit, the production of cytokines decreases, leaving us more susceptible to bacteria, viruses and ultimately, disease.
Prioritising sleep is one of the best things you can do for your body. Not only will you be supporting its optimum function, but you will have the energy to bound through life!
Let’s look at some of the critical benefits of a good night’s sleep.
Sleep is Restorative
While we rest, our body is hard at work restoring, repairing, rebuilding and growing! Therefore, the more quality sleep we bank, the more quality’ work’ our body can achieve.
An essential function performed during sleep is draining the body’s lymphatic system – a crucial immune system process that boosts immunity.
Among the other vital tasks our body performs while we sleep are muscle repair, protein synthesis, tissue growth, and hormone release.
Sleep Reduces Stress
A continued lack of good quality sleep puts out body under pressure and can lead to the excessive production of the stress-response hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol can cause us to become irritable, develop high blood pressure and become prone to weight gain. The prolonged production of excess cortisol can lead to systemic inflammation and severe hormone imbalance. Both can be difficult to reverse and in the instance of inflammation, can lead to disease.
Clocking up at least seven hours of sleep a night sets us up to enjoy better moods and concentration, have sharper judgment, more effective decision-making, and overall feel equipped to deal with whatever our busy lives throw at us!
Sleep Improves Your Memory
During the day, we absorb untold amounts of stimuli, some we wish to keep and some we don’t. Of that which we want to keep, we rely on our mind to process and order this information; this occurs during sleep. While we sleep, neural connections within the brain strengthen, allowing memories to form. These memories are then stored away until required, or we wish to recall them.
Sleep Helps You Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
Sleep deprivation causes the hormones that regulate hunger and appetite to fall out of whack. This imbalance can send the body into a state of chaos, making you less likely to expend energy and more likely to make unhealthy choices. In this state, you are more likely to reach for a quick sugar hit to stave off the advances of tiredness or a dip in energy levels instead of opting to exercise and enjoy a healthy meal. Of course, this isn’t a problem on occasion, but if the leger swings and this becomes your norm, you could be at risk of gaining an unhealthy amount of weight or developing type 2 diabetes.
Sleep May Prevent Illnesses
As you will have gathered from your reading above, the benefits of a good night’s sleep are all interconnected – a closed loop, if you will. Your body is more prone to common ills such as a winter cold with your immune system compromised by a lack of sleep. However, of greater concern is that a prolonged lack of sleep makes you susceptible to the onset of chronic disease – heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.
Unfortunately, the effects of a lack of sleep are cumulative and not entirely apparent at the outset. Our bodies can be very good at course-correcting on our behalf, making minor adjustments as required as a means to an end. Running this protocol for any length of time will lead to severe damage, which can sometimes be irreversible.
Sleep triggers the body’s natural healing programme into action and can go a long way to protecting us from the onset of life-altering illness.
Often the stresses of everyday life can lead to disrupted sleep. If we are overworked, experiencing financial or relationship stress, or suffering from any trauma, our sleep will be one of the first things to take the hit. It is during these times that we must prioritise sleep as best we can.
However, it is essential to take a balanced approach to your situation and proactively manage what you can control.
If sleep eludes you, stressing out about it will only compound the problem. Instead, focus on what you can do to support a good night’s rest. Eat well, exercise regularly, avoid alcohol and caffeine before bed, and introduce a relaxation regime before bed. Yoga, meditation or reading a good book will all aid in unwinding you from the day’s activities and any stress you may be experiencing.
If you feel like you could be suffering from a lack of sleep or require some support to overcome an existing sleep issue, there is a wealth of help out there. The key is to address your problem sooner rather than later so that the situation doesn’t spiral and the fix becomes more challenging to attain.
Sweet dreams – just what your body needs!
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