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Achieving adequate sleep every night not only leaves you well rested and ready to tackle the next day but also has significant health benefits. Sleep is the natural state of body and mind marked by reduced alertness, movement, consciousness, and interaction with your body and the environment. The ability to be productive and feel energetic in the morning banks on the quality and amount of sleep you get at night.
When you are asleep, your brain gets a break from being over-stimulated. It has adequate time to prepare to take on new challenges the next day by condensing learning and memory and generating new neural networks.
There are many factors that affect your ability to get quality sleep ranging from your capacity to maintain a consistent sleep schedule to the quality of the mattress you sleep on. Fortunately, with a few changes to your daily routine and finding the best quality mattress to buy, you should be able to sleep better.
Now that you know that getting adequate sleep is an attainable goal, here are some surprising health benefits that come from simply getting more sleep.
What Are The Health Benefits of Getting More Sleep
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Adequate Sleep Makes You More Alert
Getting enough sleep refreshes your entire system and leaves you feeling more alert and energized. When you wake up in the morning feeling full of energy and refreshed, you are guaranteed to have a great day. This way, you will be better equipped to carry out your daily tasks and initiate sleep at night.
Enough Sleep Helps Reduce Stress
Being sleep deprived causes high blood pressure, which often results in increased stress levels. Increased stress levels weaken the entire body and lead to altering all the body’s functions. In addition, stress hormones make it difficult to initiate sleep, making it easy for you to slip into a state of insomnia.
Getting More Sleep Enhances Immune System
The quality of your sleep directly affects your immune system. When you are not getting enough sleep, you will often experience a lot of body and muscle pain, and in some cases, you might even develop a cold or high fever. Getting more sleep allows your body to recuperate from the events of the day and strengthens your immune system so it can easily fight off infections.
Sleep Strengthens Memory
Research indicates that sleep plays a key role in how the brain functions. The brain processes a lot of information on a daily basis, and when you go to sleep, your brain still stays active. In deep sleep, the brain links every memory to information that strengthens your ability to remember.
Sleep Helps the Heart Stay Healthy
Sleep helps regulate your blood pressure allowing your heart and blood vessels to rest, which is vital for having a healthy heart. On the other hand, sleep deprivation leads to high blood pressure, which makes you liable to severe heart conditions.
Adequate Sleep Enhances Productivity
Waking up exhausted drains you of the will to do anything since your body is too tired. When you don’t get enough sleep, you lack patience, your mood is affected, you find everything annoying, and your energy is depleted, which creates a chain reaction that often has severe consequences. The tasks you have to perform will feel harder than they actually are due to the lack of sleep, which affects your motivation to be productive.
Sleep Alleviates Depression
Depression is a severe mental condition that many people have lost their lives to. Mild cases of depression can be easily controlled with medication, therapy sessions, adequate sleep, among other things.
Although getting enough sleep is not a cure for depression, it helps alleviate the condition. When you are well-rested, your body is strong and ready to withstand anything. Still, it is necessary to seek medical care if you are battling depression.
Enough Sleep Helps Control Weight
Inadequate sleep affects the hormones that prompt appetite. Ghrelin and Leptin are the hormones responsible for regulating appetite. These hormones are often disrupted by lack of sleep, leading to increased appetite throughout the day and even odd hours of the night.
Sleep research shows that every adult should get at least 8 hours of sleep every night since anything less will significantly impact your appetite and, therefore, weight. If you are trying to lose weight by observing a diet and exercising, getting more sleep can also help.
Are You Getting Enough Sleep?
Adequate sleep is essential for mental and physical health. Getting enough sleep ensures that you stay healthy, less stressed, energized, motivated and also plays a role in enhancing your social life. Although sleep needs often vary, a minimum of 7 – 8 hours of sleep is usually adequate for peak health benefits.
Sleep research implies that adults who sleep for longer than 10 hours often develop less flexible leg arteries and calcium buildup in their heart arteries. So in your pursuit of more sleep, try to stay within the bounds of the hours recommended.
