One of the most important components to your Health is a good night’s sleep. It is vital. In fact, it’s just as important as any other healthy habit, such as exercise and nutrition. We live in a world that interferes with quality sleep patterns in multiple ways. We tend to sleep less than our grandparents did in the past, and our sleep quality has decreased as well.
Here are the top 5 reasons why good sleep is so important.
More sleep. Less calories.
When we don’t get sufficient sleep we tend to eat more calories. There is a direct correlation to late night snacking. This in turn can lead to skipping breakfast the next morning. You may be thinking “well that’s less calories” but what happens is we over eat at lunch. Then this continues a vicious cycle.
Lack of sleep greatly disrupts the daily fluctuations in appetite hormones and can cause poor appetite control. In example grazing and binge eating. This includes high of ghrelin (a hormone that stimulates appetite) and reduced levels of leptin (a hormone that suppresses appetite).
In short, poor sleep affects hormones that regulate appetite. If you get enough sleep you tend to eat fewer calories than those who don’t.
Quality sleep can improve focus and productivity.
Brain function depends on quality sleep. This includes but is not limited to: focus, productivity, and performance. These are negatively affected by sleep deprivation.
On the flip side, quality sleep can improve skills such as problem solving and memory performance in both children and adults.
Increased sleep can improve athletic and physical performance.
A good nights sleep has shown to boost athletic performance.
In a study done with college basketball players. They found that longer sleep durations showed significant improvement in reaction times, speed, accuracy, and mental well-being.
A study of over 2,800 women found that poor sleep led to slower walking, lower grip strength, and greater difficulty performing independent activities.
Poor sleeping patterns linked to depression.
Depression and other mental health issues are strongly linked to poor sleep quality. Sleep quality is a top complaint of an estimated 90% of those fighting with depression. This is linked to an increased risk of death by suicide.
8 hours of sleep can improve your immune function.
The smallest loss of sleep has been shown to decrease your ability to fight the common cold.
Research has found that people who sleep less than 7 hours a night are almost 3 times more likely to catch a cold than people who make it a habit to sleep 8 hours or more. This can lead us to the conclusion that if you get colds regularly. Making sure that you get at least 8 hours of sleep per night could be very helpful.
Nutrition, Exercise, and Good Sleep are the three pillars of health. You can’t achieve optimal health without getting quality sleep. Lets work on building a new habit so that you can start to Sleep Better
Be Happy, Be Helpful, Be Consistent.