Did you know that today is World Sleep Day? Not getting enough sleep can actually be harmful to your health. Here are 10 reasons why you need more sleep. some of them might surprise you!
- Improves Memory – When you reach REM sleep, it’s like backing up your computer. Your brain actually records and stores memories. Learning a new language? Trying to remember those lines for that script? Go to bed earlier.
- Weight Loss – When you sleep more, you let your body digest the days’ food better and your muscles can recover more thoroughly from a workout. Staying up late often results in your body thinking that it’s time to eat again triggering late-night cravings. So basically, if you’re asleep, you won’t eat.
- Rejuvenate Skin Cells - There really is such a thing as beauty sleep. Lack of sleep, means lack of oxygen, and that can cause blood vessels to swell, which gives you a puffy face and dark circles
- You’ll Be Nicer – You know how babies are cranky when they’re sleepy? Well, we don’t really grow out of that. You need more sleep.
- Fight Inflammation – Inflammation in the body has been linked to stroke, heart attack, arthritis and other auto-immune diseases
- Be More Creative – Whether you’re a commissioned artist, writing a term paper or are trying to figure out what to make for dinner, your brain is constantly coming up with new ways of working while you sleep
- Improved Athletic Performance – If you’ve hit a workout plateau, or are trying to excel at any sport, getting more sleep and practicing visual motor rehearsal before bed can better your results
- Longer Attention Span – Chronic sleep deprivation can have ADHD-like side effects in adults and children.
- Fight Off Mental Disorders – Anxiety, Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD, Psychosis, Alzheimers, Dementia and a host of other mental ailments are all linked to sleep deprivation
- Safety – Driving, operating a forklift, disarming a bomb, whatever, PLEASE don’t do this sleepy, if not for your own safety, for other people.
How much more sleep do you need?
The National Sleep Foundation released it’s findings last month and it seems it’s different for different ages but basically, if you’re between the ages of 17-64 you need 7-9 hours of sleep. (I know! I kind of freaked out too, I’m fighting for 6 hours right now). Apparently somewhere between 6 and 7 hours your body “shuts down” and starts repairing your muscles, stores your memories, learns and remembers how to do physical tasks, and releases toxins from the bloodstream, (which is why you have to pee so bad first thing in the morning!) But when you don’t get enough sleep, these toxins remain in your system and can build up to dangerous levels and literally slow you down.
The Myth of Catching Up On Sleep
There is no such thing as “catching up” on sleep. Either you’re getting enough or you’re not. Your brain doesn’t work on an aggregate system, either you’re rested or you’re not. When you need more sleep you might be out of whack for 3 or 4 days, because your brain thinks you have a new sleep cycle and tries to adjust. Kind of like jet lag but you haven’t gone anywhere. The problem is when your work or life schedule (changing shift work, new baby, final exams, etc) is constantly in flux and your brain can’t keep up. That’s when you get sluggish and “act drunk”, because your brain needs to shut down in order to keep the rest of your body going.
Everyone’s Tired
The sad thing is, in the US, we’re such a sleep deprived society that getting adequate rest is typically not the rule, but the exception. People actually think you’re strange if you get enough rest. I have worked with a few of those well-rested people who are wide awake and WAY too chipper first thing in the morning, while I’m just trying to get through my coffee without throwing it at them. I did some research though and guess what professions get get the least amount of rest? Doctors, nurses, truckers, airline pilots and the military.
The people who cut us open, give us medication, operate the largest machinery and carry weapons…are all sleep deprived too.
• How much do you feel you need to sleep in order to function properly?
