6 Benefits of a Good Night's Sleep
/We always hear that it’s important to get a good night’s sleep. But do we really understand the importance of sleep? Let’s discuss some of the many benefits of quality sleep.
1. Memory
Sleep plays an important role in a process called memory consolidation. During sleep, your body is resting, but your brain is busy processing your day, making connections between events, feelings, sensory input, and memories. Deep sleep is a very important time for your brain to make memories and links, and getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.
During the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep, your newly consolidated memories become interconnected with your prior memories, including those of your life as well as your library of knowledge and facts. This connection between your recent memories, prior memories, and knowledge is one reason that you may wake up with a new and valuable perspective on a problem.
2. Healthier Heart
Quality sleep promotes cardiac health. During sleep, the heart rate slows down, and blood pressure decreases. This means that during sleep, the heart and vascular system are able to rest.
Research shows that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to develop high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing heart disease. Also, poor sleep promotes inflammation and chronic inflammation eventually leads to heart disease. Furthermore, recent research indicates that the heart likes consistent sleep. In a study that followed older adults for five years, those with the most irregular sleep schedules were nearly twice as likely to develop heart disease compared to adults with more regular sleep patterns.
It’s not known why going off a regular sleep schedule (with consistent bed and wake times) affects the heart, but sleep inconsistency may disturb the body’s circadian rhythms. Blood pressure, heart rate, and other cardiovascular functions vary with the time of day and may become disrupted by inconsistent sleep.
3. Stress Reduction
When you’re sleep deprived, your body releases stress hormones. Sleep is a powerful stress reducer. Following a regular sleep routine calms and restores the body, regulates mood, improves concentration, and sharpens judgment and decision-making. When you’re well rested, you are a better problem solver and are better able to cope with stress.
Getting more rest can significantly decrease cortisol levels and restore balance to the body’s systems. For adults, the recommendation is to try to get between seven to nine hours of sleep a night to avoid the rise in hormone levels and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
4. Reduces Anxiety
Anxiety is frequently connected to sleeping problems. Excess worry and fear make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night. Sleep deprivation can worsen anxiety. Researchers have found that losing too much sleep can activate a region of the brain that controls emotional processing and worry. Poor sleep can overwork the heart and cause serious stress, negatively affecting your mental health and how you handle social situations.
Adequate sleep has been proven to drastically reduce feelings of anxiety by improving your ability to process stress and react in an appropriate way. Specifically, a good night’s sleep can improve your mood and temperament. In addition, creating healthy sleep habits can make going to bed a more pleasant experience and facilitate a consistent routine to enhance sleep.
5. Boosts Immune System
The immune system is critical to overall health. It is fundamental to healing wounds, warding off infections, and protecting against chronic and life-threatening illnesses. When your body gets the proper sleep it needs, your immune cells and proteins get the rest they need to fight off illnesses like colds or the flu. Research also indicates that proper sleep can make vaccines more effective.
Sleep provides essential support to the immune system. Getting sufficient hours of high-quality sleep enables a well-balanced immune defense that features strong innate and adaptive immunity, and less severe allergic reactions.
Furthermore, during sleep, the body produces growth hormones necessary for development in children and adolescents. These growth hormones also repair tissues and cells in people of all ages. The body also produces cytokines during sleep, which support the immune system in fighting infections.
6. Decreases Weight Gain
Research indicates that a lack of sleep is linked to poorer food choices, increased hunger and calorie intake, decreased physical activity, and ultimately weight gain. Getting enough sleep may help prevent increases in calorie intake and appetite. Sufficient sleep helps you avoid decreases in metabolism that can happen when you haven’t gotten enough sleep.
Science shows that when you're well-rested, you're less hungry. Good quality sleep doesn’t mess with the hormones leptin and ghrelin that control appetite. More specifically, during sleep, the body naturally produces more of an appetite suppressor, called leptin, while reducing the production of the appetite stimulant ghrelin.
Now that we better understand the many benefits of a good night’s sleep, make sure to focus on creating a healthy sleep hygiene routine. Some helpful suggestions include avoiding caffeine and alcohol 4 to 6 hours before you go to bed. Going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time. At least one hour before you go to bed, turn off all electronics and practice relaxation techniques such as guided imagery, yoga stretches, meditation, prayer, or deep breathing exercises. Happy Zzz’s.
For more information about sleep difficulties, please call me at 858-243-2684.
