6 Benefits of Sleep
Research shows that a solid night’s sleep is essential for a long and healthy life. Here are 6 Benefits to sleeping well:
- Sleeping well boosts immunity
Research shows that sleeping regularly for 8 hours a night helps the performance of our immune system in fending off infections.
- Sleeping well can help you be slim
Studies have shown that people who sleep more than 7 hours or more a night tend to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming obese than those who sleep at less than 7 hours per night.
- Sleeping well can boost mental wellbeing
Studies show that chronic sleep debt can lead to long-term mood disorders like clinical depression and generalised anxiety disorder in adults. Studies have also shown that people with anxiety or depression tend to sleep for less than 6 hours a night. So getting that regular solid nights sleep to help rest and relax your mind and body is very important for your mental health.
- Sleeping well prevents diabetes
Studies have shown that people who usually sleep more than 5 hours a night have a lower risk of developing diabetes and it seems that deep sleeping may prevent type 2 diabetes. Therefore getting the right amount of hours of sleep every night is very important for our body.
- Sleeping well can increase fertility
According to research, regularly sleeping a good night’s sleep can help with fertility by increasing the secretion of reproductive hormones.
- Sleeping well can protect against heart disease
Long-standing sleep deprivation seems to be linked with an increased heart rate, and an increase in blood pressure and higher levels of certain chemicals linked to inflammation, all of which could put extra strain on our heart. So a regular 8 hour sleep a night should help keep a healthy heart!
Ways to Catch up on Lost Sleep
If you’ve had months of restricted sleep, you’ll have built up a significant sleep debt, so expect recovery to take several weeks.
Starting on a weekend, try to add on an extra hour or 2 of sleep a night. The way to do this is to go to bed when you’re tired, and allow your body to wake you in the morning naturally (no alarm clocks allowed).
You might find, you sleep up to 10 hours a night at first. But after a while, the amount of time you sleep will gradually decrease to a normal level.
Try not to rely on caffeine or energy drinks as a short-term “wake up” fix, as they may boost your energy levels and concentration in the short term, but in the long term, they will disrupt your sleep patterns further.
We hope you found this information useful!
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