10 reasons why sleep is important for health!
These are the reasons for the importance of sleep for health that everyone needs to know and improve the quantity and quality of sleep because a good night’s sleep is incredibly important for your health. In fact, it’s just as important as eating healthy and exercising. Unfortunately, the Western environment is interfering with natural sleep patterns. People now sleep less than in the past, and sleep quality has also declined.
Reasons why sleep is important for health:
1. Increases the risk of type 2 diabetes:
Sleep restriction affects blood sugar and reduces insulin sensitivity. In a study of healthy young men, restricting sleep to four hours a night for six nights in a row caused symptoms of prediabetes. These symptoms resolved after a week of longer sleep duration.
Poor sleep habits are also strongly related to adverse effects on blood sugar in the general population. Those who sleep less than six hours a night have repeatedly shown an increased risk of type 2 diabetes .
Sleep deprivation can cause prediabetes in healthy adults in just six days. Overall, the importance of sleep for health comes from many studies that show a strong link between short sleep duration and type 2 diabetes .
2. Improve immunity:
Even a small loss of sleep has been shown to impair immune function. A large two-week study monitored the development of the common cold after administering nasal drops to the cold virus .
They found that those who slept less than seven hours were almost three times more likely to develop a cold than those who slept eight hours or more, which is why the importance of sleep for health is indispensable. If you often get colds , ensuring you get at least eight hours of sleep a night can be very helpful. Eating more garlic can also help.
After all, getting at least eight hours of sleep can improve your immune function and help fight the common cold .
3. Lack of sleep increases the risk of heart disease:
It is known that the reasons for the importance of sleep for health depend on the quality and duration of sleep, which can have an important effect on many health risk factors. These are the factors believed to drive chronic disease, including heart disease.
A review of 15 studies found that people who don’t get enough sleep have a much higher risk of heart disease or stroke than those who sleep between 7 and 8 hours a night. In fact, sleeping less than 7 to 8 hours a night is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke .
4. The better you sleep, the fewer calories you eat::
Studies show that sleep-deprived individuals have a greater appetite and tend to eat more calories. Furthermore, sleep deprivation interrupts the daily fluctuations of appetite hormones and is believed to cause poor appetite regulation.
This includes higher levels of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates appetite, and reduced levels of leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite. Inadequate sleep affects hormones that regulate appetite. After all, those who sleep properly tend to eat fewer calories than those who don’t.
5. Increased inflammation:
Sleep can have a major effect on inflammation in your body. In fact, sleep loss is known to activate undesirable markers of inflammation and cell damage. Inadequate sleep has led to long-term inflammation of the digestive tract and disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease.
One study observed that sleep-deprived people with Crohn’s disease were twice as likely to relapse as patients who slept well. Researchers are even recommending sleep assessment to help predict outcomes in individuals with long-term inflammatory issues.
6. Sleeping well improves concentration and productivity:
Sleep is important for many aspects, especially brain function. This includes cognition, concentration, productivity and performance. All of these are negatively affected by sleep deprivation. A study of interns provides a good example.
Interns in traditional hours, with work hours extended for more than 24 hours, had 36% more serious medical errors than interns in a schedule that allowed more sleep. Another study found that short sleep can negatively impact some aspects of brain function to a similar degree to alcohol intoxication.
After all, good sleep has been shown to improve problem-solving skills and improve memory performance in both children and adults. Good sleep can maximize problem-solving skills and improve memory. Poor sleep has been shown to impair brain function.
7. Sleep affects emotions and social interactions:
Sleep loss reduces your ability to interact socially. Several studies have confirmed this using emotional facial recognition tests. One study found that people who didn’t sleep had a reduced ability to recognize expressions of anger and happiness.
Researchers believe that poor sleep affects your ability to recognize important social cues and process emotional information.
8. Good sleep improves athletic performance:
Sleep has undeniably been shown to improve athletic performance. In a study of basketball players, prolonged sleep was shown to significantly improve speed, accuracy, reaction times, and mental well-being. Less sleep time has also been associated with poor exercise performance and functional limitation in older women.
9. Sleeping little makes you gain weight:
Sleepless nights are strongly linked to weight gain. Furthermore, people who sleep little tend to weigh significantly more than those who sleep adequately. In fact, short sleep duration is one of the strongest risk factors for obesity.
In an extensive review study, children and adults who sleep little are 89% and 55% more likely to become obese, respectively. Furthermore, the effect of sleep on weight gain is thought to be mediated by numerous factors, including hormones and exercise motivation.
If you’re trying to lose weight , getting quality sleep is absolutely crucial. In fact, short sleep duration increases the risk of weight gain and obesity in both children and adults.
10. Sleeping less can lead to depression:
Mental health issues such as depression are strongly related to poor sleep quality and sleep disturbances. Furthermore, it is estimated that 90% of people with depression complain about the quality of their sleep. In particular, inadequate sleep is associated with an increased risk of death by suicide.
Surprisingly those with sleep disorders such as insomnia or obstructive sleep apnea also report significantly higher rates of depression than those without. Poor sleep patterns are strongly linked to depression, particularly for those with a sleep disorder.
More information:
So, along with nutrition and exercise, good sleep is certainly one of the pillars of health. In fact, you simply cannot achieve optimal health without taking care of your sleep.