We all need sleep. All adults need around eight hours each night. But very few of us actually get that much sleep consistently.
Here are some of the benefits of having a good night’s sleep.
#1 Keeps your heart healthy
Lack of sleep can increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease and increase your likelihood of suffering a stroke.
When we sleep our heart rate and blood pressure naturally drop, this helps our heart and the rest of our body rest and recover.
However, if you are not getting enough sleep your sympathetic nervous system - your fight or flight response - does not switch off. This means your heart rate and blood pressure do not go down. Your body will start releasing hormones like adrenaline to keep you alert. This alertness and high blood pressure will then carry over into the following day.
However, if you are getting enough rest, your body can recover. Your heart rate drops, your blood pressure decreases and it can reduce your likelihood of getting fatty deposits in your arteries.
Getting the right amount of sleep is also linked to controlling blood glucose (sugar) levels. Lack of sleep for even one night can lead to an increase in insulin resistance, meaning it is less effective. If this continues long-term it could potentially lead to diabetes.
It is not all bad news though, as when we get the right amount of sleep (around 8 hours each night), our body can recover. With every night of good sleep, the likelihood of developing these conditions will decrease until it is back to normal.
#2 Improves your attention and concentration
Everyone knows that if you sleep well, you will feel more energised at the start of the day.
But getting a good night’s sleep also energises your brain.
When we don’t sleep deeply for long enough, the restorative work our body and mind complete during the night is hindered.
This can lead to a decreased attention span, difficulty concentrating and a reduction in your assessment of risk and reaction times. This can be critical, for example when driving.
#3 Look after your mental wellbeing
As well as helping heart and brain function, good sleep also has psychological benefits.
When stress or anxiety keeps you awake at night, the body senses a threat and releases adrenaline. Adrenaline triggers the fight or flight response in the body, heightening stress. Cortisol levels (the primary stress hormone) then also increase. This creates a vicious cycle of adrenaline-fueled stress.
Attempting to follow a set bedtime routine can help. “Winding down” before you go to sleep can reduce cortisol levels. This could be completing your nighttime skin routine or reading for fifteen minutes before bed. Reducing cortisol spikes will help to improve your sleep.
#4 Improve the strength of your immune system
We all know that feeling tired and stressed can often lead us to feel run down and ill.
A lack of sleep can reduce the strength of your immune system. The immune system is responsible for fighting off pathogens (microorganisms that cause us harm), and sleep helps it to rest and repair. This is why when we are ill, we feel more tired and need more sleep.
Sleep helps the immune system to detect and destroy pathogens such as the ones which cause the common cold. It also helps these same cells remember the shape of the pathogen, which is key for our body to deal with the pathogen if we come into contact with it again.
A good night’s sleep is essential for this system to work at its best and keep us healthy.
#5 Maintaining a healthy weight
There is a link between the amount of sleep we get and our ease of maintaining a healthy weight.
Scientists have argued that sleep and weight are linked because of the adrenaline and cortisol hormones. These hormones trigger the signal that the body needs more energy to deal with stressful situations. This can often encourage overeating.
As these excess stress hormones encourage the body to go into a fight or flight response, more of the food eaten is stored to prepare for the next stressful situation. As more food is stored as fat in the body it becomes more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
There are many more benefits to good sleep.
Sleep is vital for our daily function, for both our mental and physical capabilities.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours per night. Younger people need even more sleep to enable their growth and repair.
Good bedtime routines have been linked with improving sleep quality. Start enjoying the deep health benefits of good sleep by creating and sticking to a bedtime wind-down routine - enjoy a pre-bed skin routine, read a book or meditate.
