Does the issue of sleep sound or look less important to you? Why so much emphasis on good sleep, besides sleep is for the weak and lazy right? If you think this way or have a similar mindset, you’re wrong. Sleep is as important as staying awake or alive. Why not learn how to use sleep to your advantage?
Hi there and welcome to my blog post today. My name is Great Morgan and it is my pleasure to have you reading this post right now. Last week, I discussed briefly on certain things we should know about sleep. It has come to my knowledge that a lot of people don’t practice good sleep habits because they hardly know certain deep truths about sleep. Today, you will learn the health benefits of having a good sleep and I believe you’ll begin to apply this daily- as soon as possible. Enjoy your read.
A good sleep goes beyond just shutting down our bodies and consciousness by closing our eyes. Sleeps actually makes us feel better and an adequate sleep is a vital part of living a healthy life. Sleep doesn’t just signify rest, its benefits also reaches our hearts, mind, chemical balance, weight and many more. Below are FOUR (4) important ways a good sleep is beneficial to our health;
1. GOOD SLEEP IMPROVES OUR MEMORY
It is no longer news that our minds are actually busy while we snooze. There is a process called Consolidation and it happens when we strength our memories or skills that we practiced while awake.
Dr. Rapport who happens to be an associate professor at NYU Langone Medical Center claims that during a physical or mental learning process, we can learn things to a certain point through practice but during sleep, something happens that makes us learn even better.
This means that if you are trying to learn something new, you would actually perform better when you are sleeping. So when next you’re trying to learn something new, try practicing at least few hours or minutes before you sleep.
#2 . GOOD SLEEP HELPS CURB INFLAMMATION
Like I have written earlier, sleep also helps to improve the efficiency of some of our major organs in the body. Inflammation is usually linked to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and premature aging. Research has proven that those who get less than six hours of sleep a night have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins than those who get more.
In 2010, a study that was carried out by researchers found that C-reactive protein which is affiliated with heart attack risk was actually higher in people who got six or fewer hours of sleep at night.
People who have sleeping disorders such as insomnia or sleep apnea can have an improvement in blood pressure and inflammations with proper treatment of these sleep disorders. Sleeping early and well helps in making sure certain form of health disorders do not occur in your life.
3. GOOD SLEEP IMPROVES OUR CREATIVITY
Remember we discussed above how sleep helps us to remember things better? Who gets more creative than the person who can remember clearly the ‘rules of the game’? In other words, getting a good night’s sleep after learning something would improve the quality of our performance the next day.
Researchers from Boston College and Harvard University have found out that people seem to strengthen the emotional part and component of a memory during sleep time which might assist in spurring creativity. This is why it is always advisable to always try to clear our minds off the failures and negative setbacks of the day before hitting the bed to sleep. When we get to do this, we could literally stop ourselves from waking up with stress or anxiety.
Once again, part from consolidating memories and making them stronger, our brain appears to reorganize and restructure them- this often results to creativity.
4. GOOD SLEEP CREATES ROOM FOR A HEALTHY WEIGHT
A lot of people plan how to get back into a healthy weight or shape and they go on planning their daily fitness and diet routines but fail to plan a good sleep strategy. If you are really thinking about improving you weight, you should begin to consider an early bedtime routine too.
A research was carried out by the researchers from University of Chicago and they found out that dieters who rested and slept well actually lost about 56% more fat than those who were just sleep deprived and lost muscle mass. They literally shed almost similar amounts of total body weight regardless of sleeping well. The other surprising fact was that the dieters felt hungrier whenever they had less sleep during the day.
Our sleep and metabolism are controlled by a particular section in our brain and when we get sleepy, certain hormones goes into our blood and these same hormones drive our appetite. Haven’t you noticed certain period where you slept and woke up very hungry? The power of sleep…
