Sleep and 10 Reasons Why It's Important

August 29, 2019

Sleep. We all need to sleep to survive. It is just as important as eating healthy and exercising. Your health depends on how much sleep you get.

Everybody's different, but in general, most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. You can go longer without food than you can without sleep. Sleep is truly an essential part of living.

Get enough sleep, and you’ll see your health improve dramatically.

Watch Well Revolution's Doctor Sash explain more about sleep on TVNZ Seven Sharp.

 

Read on for 10 reasons why sleep is important.

1. You’ll find you’re less likely to get sick. Getting enough sleep will help your immune system fight off a virus or help prevent you from getting sick in the first place.
2. Lowers your risk for heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke. Ongoing sleep deficiency can lead to these diseases and ongoing studies have proven this.
3. It will help you to manage your appetite better. People who don't have much sleep can have higher levels of ghrelin in their system the next day. Ghrelin is a hormone that signals hunger. We all know that not getting enough sleep makes us go through that Maccas drive-through. 
4. Getting sufficient quality sleep helps with weight loss. Your metabolism works mostly during the day and works with your circadian rhythm (this is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours). It’s vital to follow your circadian rhythm. In simple terms, poor sleep will make you fat. 
5. Good sleep can help you focus and improve your concentration and productivity. Short sleep can negatively impact some aspects of brain function to a similar degree as alcohol intoxication.
6. Longer sleep has been shown to improve many aspects of athletic and physical performance. Longer sleep has been shown to drastically improve a person's mental wellbeing, speed, accuracy and reaction times.
7. Muscle recovery - if you’re spending time in the gym, it could be wasted if you’re not getting sufficient sleep.
8. Sleep helps children grow. Kids who regularly get an adequate amount of sleep have improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory and overall mental and physical health.
9. Poor sleep can have negative effects on many parts of your body and brain. This can include learning, memory, emotions, mood and various biological functions. There is also an increase in the release of growth hormones during your sleep (this is when kids get taller, our skin cells regenerate and our hair gets longer).
10. Sleep allows your brain cells to heal. During sleep, the neurons have an opportunity to recover from the stress they accumulated during the day and they then "fix" any damage that may have occurred. 

Small changes like this will really help your overall health and wellbeing. Follow your natural sleep patterns and feel better for it. 

Sweet Dreams everyone!

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