10 Good Reasons You Should Get More Sleep

Any parent will agree that there are times when getting a good night’s sleep is not only a challenge, but almost laughable, but did you know that there is much more at stake than starting the day with zombie eyes if you are continually sleep deprived?

Your Mood

It goes without saying that waking up from a restful night’s sleep can set you up for the day. A good mood will mean you will achieve more, have better judgement, creativity and be able to cope more effectively with problem situations. Kids, just being themselves won’t send you into a tailspin you can’t recover from!

Your Memory

Improving your quality and quantity of sleep is vital to maintaining our memory. When we sleep our brain goes through our impressions of the day forming memory.

Concentration

You don’t need to be Einstein to understand that lack of sleep may leave you feeling grumpy and restless but it can also have a serious impact on how you approach your daily routine. An interrupted or bad night’s sleep can not only leave you feeling sluggish and struggling to get through your day, it can also affect your levels of concentration. You may wander from task to task without completing anything.

Face Lift

Well, perhaps that is a little exaggerated, but lack of sleep can certainly show on the outside too, with dark circles and puffy eyes. If we are sleeping well, that first glance in the mirror in the morning may have us feeling years younger, as the fluid that accumulates under our skin during rest smooths out some of those pesky wrinkles. Unfortunately, the water drains away an hour or so after rising leaving us with wrinkles again. On the plus side, a good night’s sleep can help to repair skin through nocturnal growth hormones, including collagen, which is important to keep our skin looking great. Just proves, it’s not called beauty sleep for nothing!

Decision Making

A lack of sleep can result in our thinking being less flexible and unable to cope with the unexpected. Those of us who go to work in a sleep deprived state may not be up to making vital decisions, or react quickly in a crisis. This is of particular significance for those in law enforcement, health workers, defence services, ambulance and fire services etc. especially, where their actions can have life or death implications for others as well as themselves.

Danger on the Roads

This point can never be overstated. Fatigue on the roads can cause accidents through the inability to pay proper attention and falling asleep at the wheel. We constantly hear instances reported in the media of unnecessary heartache caused through driving tired. It is far better to pull over for a short nap and get to your destination twenty minutes late than not at all. Lack of sleep may be the cause of a fatal accident that involves not only you and your loved ones but innocent strangers.

Want to Lost Weight?

Missing out on a good night’s sleep may be hindering our hard work when it comes to losing weight. Recent studies into chronic sleep loss suggest that the resulting associated imbalances in certain hormones and our metabolism, may in fact, contribute to weight gain and compromise our bodies’ ability to burn fat. Sleep well and make all that effort at the gym worthwhile.

Poor Immunity

Our bodies’ ability to produce the antibodies required to fight infections is directly related to the quantity and quality of sleep we get. Production of these antibodies can be disrupted when we suffer poor or insufficient rest. We may be leaving ourselves vulnerable to picking up every bug around and unable to get through winter without suffering severe colds and flu.

Serious Illness

Sleeping for less than six hours a night may increase our risk of debilitating conditions such as heart disease, stroke and cardiovascular disorders. Ongoing short sleep can also be a ticking time bomb for other conditions including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

Protect your Future Health

Research shows there are clear links to staying healthier and living longer by maintaining good sleep patterns. By ensuring we get seven hours sleep a night, we can lessen the risk of developing chronic conditions later in life, and be better assured that our quality of life as we age, is as good as it can possibly be.

How much sleep do you get a night?

Do you struggle to get enough on a regular basis?

SOURCE bodyandsoul