Researchers have found that most adults need about 8 hours of sleep every night to be healthy. So why is it so important to sleep enough? Well, here are ten health benefits for getting enough sleep:
- Sleep helps our bodies to maintain he
althy blood vessels, and can lessen the chance of heart disease.
- Sleeping in a dark room increases our bodies” production of melatonin, which makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Studies have also shown that melatonin holds back the growth of tumors.
- Sleep reduces our bodies” stress and lowers blood pressure and the production of stress hormones, lowering our chance for heart attacks and strokes. Fewer stress hormones means less inflammation and less chances of cancer, diabetes and the deterioration of our bodies.
- Sleep increases our energy for the day, which in turn increases our chances for another good night”s sleep.
- Sleep allows our brains to process our day, making connections between events, sensory input, feelings and memories. Our dreams and deep sleep are an important time for our brains to make memories and links.
- It is thought that the lack of sleep changes the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite and cause us to gain weight. The hormones ghrelin and leptin are important for regulating our appetite, and they have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep.
- Napping several times a week can lower risk for dying from heart disease, and studies have shown that people who nap at work have much lower levels of stress. Napping during the day also improves memory, cognitive function and mood.
- Sleep impacts many of the chemicals in our bodies, including serotonin.
- Sleep is a time for your body to repair damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful things. Our cells make more protein while we are sleeping, and these protein molecules put together the building blocks for cells, so that they can fix cell damage.
- Lastly, during sleep, our immune systems release a special proteins called cytokines that help to give us better sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when we are stressed or have infections or inflammations in order to help them to heal. Not getting enough sleep can decrease the production of these cytokines and other infection-fighting antibodies and cells that strengthen our immune systems.
Depending on whether we”re early birds or night owls, we need to have enough deep sleep as well as enough hours of sleep. I”m a night owl, and my deepest sleep happens between 7:00 and 10:00 in the morning. So on days I don”t have to be anywhere before 10 or 11, I make sure that I keep those mornings free. I also make sure that I eat enough the night before to relax my muscles so that I can have the best and longest sleep possible. Getting enough sleep to be healthy requires planning ahead for it!
