Sleep, in addition to being a great pleasure for most, is a fundamental physiological need.
Sleep has a positive impact on our health, causing the body to initiate a whole series of biochemical processes that ensure that, when we get up, we perform physically and mentally.
On the other hand, not having good sleep hygiene is synonymous with cognitive problems and diseases. That is why here we are going to see the main benefits of sleeping well in addition to understanding why it is something priority in our lives.
The importance of taking advantage of the hours of sleep
Many people try to make big changes in their lives, joining a gym, doing yoga and eating healthy, but forgetting that good sleep hygiene is almost as important or more important than all of them. Sleeping well has become very strange.
According to health institutions, such as the Center for Disease Control, Not being able to sleep well has become a real public health epidemic Almost half of the population does not sleep enough, less than 7 hours (40%).
This is no surprise. Work, family, worries of all kinds and colors make time go by, and when we have finished all the chores we see that it has become very late. We want to go to sleep, but instead of doing it at a healthy time, such as going to sleep at 10:00 p.m. sleep between 6 and 8 hours recommended by experts.
Going to bed late and, on top of that, sleeping little has serious repercussions on our health, affecting above all the cognitive and physical aspects We cannot concentrate, affecting our academic and work performance, and also making us more vulnerable to illnesses and psychological disorders. All of this contributes to a vicious circle: the less we sleep, the less healthy we are, and the less healthy we are, the less we sleep.
This is why acquiring good sleep hygiene should be prioritized, since it will improve our health and mental state. Below we will see the main benefits of sleeping well.
The benefits of sleeping well, summarized
There are several health benefits, both physical and mental, of sleeping well, in addition to helping us in our academic, professional and social performance.
1. Improves physical resistance
Related to the previous point, a restful sleep causes us to regenerate at night. This translates into having better aerobic resistance when you wake up, something that is essential for anyone who practices sports.
This has been seen by Stanford University, whose studies confirmed that Athletes who slept ten hours during competition periods, such as marathons, Olympics or other sporting events, improved their times and physical endurance
2. Create muscle mass
Every good athlete knows that they should sleep well not only because it improves physical resistance itself, but it also contributes to the generation of the much desired muscle mass.
Our body uses most of the night to heal the damage that has been caused to cells and tissues This causes the muscle fibers tested during the practice of exercises such as lifting weights or “body pump” to recover and stiffen.
Not sleeping well doesn’t allow muscle to grow, and in fact, lack of sleep is linked to muscle atrophy.
3. Protect memory
Sleep heals neuronal connections. During REM sleep (“rapid eye movements”), The hippocampus, known to be basically a kind of memory warehouse, is restored Thanks to this, our memory capacity, both in the short and long term, is improved. It allows memories to be stored correctly.
On the other hand, it has been seen that not getting enough sleep causes our working memory to be significantly impaired in the short term, although getting enough rest again causes these effects to be reversed.
4. Improves academic performance
In relation to the previous benefit, It has been seen that sleeping well is related to having better grades Children ages 10 to 16 who suffer from breathing problems, such as snoring or sleep apnea, are more likely to suffer from learning problems.
But this doesn’t only happen to teenagers. University adults who sleep poorly have worse academic performance, closely related to inadequate functioning of the hippocampus during the night.
If you want to perform correctly in the university exams, It is best to make sure you get as much sleep as you need, organizing yourself to avoid ending up studying at night
5. Improves attention
One of the great recommendations from the educational sector is to make sure that children sleep as much as they should.
According to an article in the journal Pediatrics, children between 7 and 8 years old who sleep less than 8 hours are more likely to show attention problems, in addition to being distractible and impulsive. Lack of sleep in children has been associated with a greater chance of being diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
6. It makes us more attractive
According to a study in the British Medical magazine, People who get a good night’s sleep look more attractive and healthier
On the contrary, sleeping poorly causes unwanted dark circles to appear, which makes us look bad and aged.
7. It makes you healthier
The immune system needs sleep to be able to regenerate, which allows it to defend itself against the pathogenic action of toxins and microorganisms. In short, it makes you healthier.
In fact, research carried out by Carnegie Mellon University (USA) concluded that People who sleep less than six hours a day are three times more likely to catch a cold compared to those who do sleep between six and eight hours.
8. Avoid gaining weight
Lack of sleep causes adipocytes, fat cells, to release less leptin, the appetite suppressing hormone.
The less you sleep, as happens to people who suffer from insomnia, in addition to a lower release of leptin the stomach releases the counterpart: ghrelin, the appetite-inducing hormone.
Both actions mean that sleeping little is associated with eating more and, consequently, with a greater risk of gaining weight. In fact, lack of sleep has been associated with obesity.
9. Protects from diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a medical condition that has serious repercussions on health, increasing the chances of suffering strokes, amputations, blindness and organ damage.
By not getting enough sleep, the body begins to lose the ability to control blood glucose, contributing to the risk of diabetes. In fact, it has been seen that sleeping less than five hours increases this possibility 2.5 times more than compared to those who sleep the recommended amount.
10. Protect the heart
According to the European Heart Journal, people who get little or no sleep are almost three times more likely to suffer from heart problems, such as heart failure.
Insomnia affects cardiovascular health by increasing blood levels of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), in turn increasing blood pressure and heart rate. In addition to this, poor sleep has been linked to having higher cholesterol levels, which is a great risk for cardiovascular health.
11. Protects the skin
Getting more sleep helps you have healthier skin. It has been seen that poor sleep hygiene, in addition to contributing to the aggravation of mental disorders such as depression or anxiety, negatively affects the skin.
This is especially serious if you take into account that these two psychological conditions also impact both sleep hygiene and skin health causing a vicious circle to be generated that is getting worse and worse.
Not getting enough sleep makes your skin much more susceptible to ultraviolet rays, putting you at risk of melanoma. Taking into account that sunbathing is considered a treatment for depression, combined with psychotherapy, not being able to sunbathe due to unhealthy skin can aggravate the condition.
12. Reduce stress
It’s no secret that sleeping less puts us in a bad mood. Not getting enough sleep makes us feel more irritable, causing us to argue with our partner, family or friends for things that are, essentially, trifles.
This has a hormonal explanation. When you sleep, the body produces melanin and serotonin, hormones that counteract the effects of stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, reducing stress.
If we don’t get enough sleep, the production of anxiety hormones increases, which makes us feel in such a bad mood the next day.
