Sleep deprivation is becoming popular due to the current working and living conditions. People want to accomplish too many tasks within a short time that they have to sacrifice their sleeping hours. Moreover, research shows that almost 50% of people aged 65 years and above have sleeping problems.
Deprivation of sleep does more than make you feel grumpy. Studies show that it causes various health issues, such as an increase in weight and a weak immune system.
For example, lack of sleep affects your memory and makes it hard for you to focus and concentrate during the day. You don’t want to be a victim. You must get quality sleep every day to reap its health benefits.
In this article, we discuss some of the most significant health benefits of sleep.
1. Sleep Sharpens Your Brain
If you are keen, you will notice that when you don’t sleep well, you have problems recalling and holding onto details. Sleep is a vital factor in memory and learning, and you need it to recharge your brain.
Lack of sleep hampers your ability to digest new information. When you sleep, your brain has ample time to store memories so that you can retrieve them later.
Moreover, sleep increases your concentration, which in turn makes you sharper. After a good night’s sleep, you wake up feeling fresh and ready to tackle new problems.
Your mind is bustling when you sleep, and it works to enhance your memory or skills learned when you were awake.
2. It Helps to Control Inflammation
Have you ever had some swelling and the next day, you find it reduced in size? Sleep can help to reduce inflammation and pain. Cortisol is the stress hormone found in our bodies, and it can trigger inflammation.
Poor sleep hinders the ability of this hormone to regulate the inflammatory response. Inflammation is not good because it creates a risk for cancer and diabetes. Sleep reduces pro-inflammatory activities and helps to keep the swelling in check.
3. Sleep Improves Heart Health
Sleep controls the pressure of your blood, which helps to prevent heart disease. Your heart and blood vessels rest when you sleep and pump blood slowly.
For a person that fails to get enough sleep, the chances are that they can get a severe heart condition. Evidence from a recent study shows that people who sleep for six hours or less have high C-reactive protein.
This protein increases your risk of a heart attack. Therefore, ensure you enjoy even a small nap during the day to improve the health of your heart.
4. Sleep Relieves Stress
Stress is a common issue in the 21st century due to pressure from different sectors of life. In fact, most people would feel happier and less stressed if they could enjoy an extra hour of sleep every night.
Sleep offers your brain an opportunity to relax instead of thinking about your problems. During sleep, your body relaxes and recharges, and this allows you to face your challenges with a new perspective.
When you feel sad, angry, and stressed at how things are going in your life, at times, all you need is good sleep to think everything through peacefully.
5. Sleep Regulates Weight
Lack of sleep interferes with hormones that regulate appetite (leptin and ghrelin hormone). There is an increase in leptin and ghrelin hormone with a lack of sleep.
It is crucial to get at least 8 hours of sleep every day if you don’t want to interfere with your appetite and weight. Poor sleeping habits will lead to weight issues.
Besides, when you rest, you feel less hungry. With ghrelin and leptin hormones out of balance in your body, you feel tempted to eat, including unhealthy foods.
It is crucial to balance sleep, diet, and exercise. If you want to maintain a healthy weight, ensure you get enough sleep always.
6. It Fosters Body Repair
In a rest state, the body produces more protein that directly influences its ability to repair itself. Proteins help in bodybuilding and replacement of worn-out muscles, and as such, you need sleep for body repair.
If you are an athlete, for example, you will need quality sleep after workouts to enhance muscle repair and recovery.
7. Helps To Manage Pain
Lack of sleep will increase your pain threshold, and this means that you will hurt more. You can ease acute or chronic pain with medication and sound sleep. When you are asleep, you will feel less pain because your body is at rest, and this gives you more time to recover.
Conclusion
Sleep is an overlooked but essential part of life. Try to come up with a regular sleeping schedule to enjoy all the benefits discussed in this article.
If you are having trouble sleeping, you can look for marijuana products that have insomnia-relieve properties. Getting the best CBD oil produces will ease your anxiety, depression, pain, and inflammation, and help you sleep better.