Sleep plays a vital role in your physical and mental health, as well as your emotional well-being. Getting enough sleep helps promote mental clarity, improves overall health and enhances your mood.
How Sleep Impacts your Health and Well-being
Let’s examine the top four reasons to get a good night sleep.
#1 – Sleep is Important for Brain Health
Your brain is preparing for the day ahead while you sleep. Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves your ability to focus and learn. From perfecting your golf swing, to learning to play the piano, or remembering your shopping list, sleep helps enhance your memory, ability to retain information and sharpens your problem solving skills.
If you’re having trouble making decisions or paying attention, you may not be getting good quality sleep. Try one of these 5 Tips To Help You Fall Asleep and Stay Asleep!
How Much Sleep is Good for Brain Health?
Experts recommend that healthy adults get between 7 – 9 hours of sleep each night. But everyone is different, and you may require more sleep than your partner, friends or co-workers. We can help you determine how much sleep you really need.
#2 – Sleep Affects Your Emotional Well-Being
Studies show that sleep deprivation can alter activity in certain parts of the brain. If you’re suffering from sleep deprivation, you may have trouble controlling your emotions, your behavior, how you deal with people and how you react to change.
Related: The Surprising Connection Between Sleep And Mental Health
What Age Group is Most Affected by Sleep Deprivation?
Children and teens can be particularly susceptible to sleep deprivation by displaying mood swings, unstable behavior or even lack of motivation. Because they are developing responsibilities, knowledge and skills, children and teens can greatly benefit from even more sleep than the average adult.
Related: How Sleep Disorders in Children Can Create Future Health Problems
#3 – Sleep Impacts Your Physical Health
Your heart health, physical performance and even your weight can suffer from lack of sleep. Let’s examine how sleep plays a major role in your physical health.
Sleep and Your Heart Health
While you sleep, your body is working to repair your heart and blood vessels while pumping oxygenate blood to your organs and your brain. Ongoing sleep deficiencies have been linked to increased risk of high blood pressure (hypertension), heart disease and stroke.
Discover how hypertension affects your body, what the symptoms are, and why getting more sleep can reduce your risk of this deadly condition.
Sleep and Your Metabolism
A lack of sleep can effect your ability to lose or maintain your weight. Your body works to balance your hormones while you sleep, including levels of ghrelin and leptin, the hormones that control hunger and the feeling of fullness.
When you don’t get enough sleep, your level of ghrelin goes up and your level of leptin goes down. This makes you feel hungrier than when you’re well rested, and because sleep impacts your emotional well-being, you may also feel less motivated to exercise.
Sleep and Your Immunity
Sleep also plays a role in a healthy immune system. Sleep allows your circulatory, lymphatic, respiratory and endocrine systems to function properly, which all contribute to a healthy immunity. Sleep deprivation can change the way your immune system responds, leaving you vulnerable to common infections.
Related: How Sleep Boosts Your Immune System
Sleep and Your Energy Levels
If you don’t sleep well, you’re less productive at work and school. Feeling groggy and sluggish doesn’t help anyone: you make more mistakes and take longer to complete tasks. Losing sleep (even a loss of just 1–2 hours per night) can impact your ability to function efficiently.
We Can Help You Get a Good Night’s Sleep
If you aren’t feeling yourself, maybe you aren’t sleeping as well as you could. Talk to your physician today. Here at Sleep Center of Middle Tennessee we are experts at helping you get a good night’s sleep.
