Working hard to make ends meet shouldn’t deprive you of having a healthy lifestyle—one of which is getting the right amount of sleep daily.
Sleep is a state where our body engages in less physical, mental, and emotional activity. The human body is always moving from one place to another, juggling different tasks at the same time and damning the consequences.
Just like an industrial machine that needs to be serviced regularly, having adequate sleep is one natural way of replenishing your body after all the hassle it goes through daily.
Listed below are eight benefits of sleep for your physical and mental well-being
Table of Contents
1. Uplifts Your Mood
There is a spring in your step as you waltz into the doors of your office, you have that ear-to-ear smile as you greet your colleagues on the way in. You can’t wait to start your day and smash your goals. This won’t happen if you had less than four hours of sleep the previous night. Sleeping for a shorter amount of time makes people cranky. This is because your brain and body want to relax. Getting the right quantity of sleep changes this narrative.
2. Improves Your Immune System
Your immune system is a very important aspect of the human body. One way to shoot it down is by not getting the right quantity of sleep your body needs. A healthy dose of sleep each night helps your body to replenish dead cells which boosts your immune system and makes you ward off possible diseases.
3. Prevents Weight Gain
Our body has two hormones that control fullness and appetite—ghrelin and leptin. These hormones are important in the regulation of weight as they increase and reduce your appetite at appropriate times. Not getting enough sleep can prevent these buddies from working actively to prevent weight gain as your body can be tricked into thinking that you are hungry when they don’t function well. This reduces the intake of calories when you don’t need any.
4. Prevents Depression
Depression strives in an environment where adequate sleep is nowhere to be found. Continuous sleep deprivation increases mood swings, anxiety, and irritability which are major factors in depression. This is another solid reason to drop that phone and jump into bed right now.
5. Improves Concentration and Memory
Imagine having occasional bouts of forgetfulness—forgetting where you dropped your car keys as you returned home from work or forgetting where you dropped the receipts for that gadget you purchased recently. Yes, that’s what happens when you don’t get the right amount of sleep. You don’t want your job to be taken from you because you suddenly developed an ailment that affects your memory, right? So, switch off that television and head into your bedroom now.
6. Gives Your Body a Natural Glow
Have you ever compared your face after a night of good rest and one where you had barely three hours of sleep? The difference is clear. You would notice the drooping eyelids and the appearance of notorious eye bags on your face. A colleague is sure to notice these features as you walk into the premises. On the flip side, getting the right amount of sleep makes your face sharper and well-rested.
7. Enhances Creativity
Creativity is tied to the ability of the brain and mind to function at its utmost capacity. This will not happen if your body is drained because of a lack of sleep. Your mind gets alert after it has had a good night of rest and can bring forth new ideas to push that project forward.
8. Enhances Brain Function
Remember when the doctors and nurses told you that your newborn infant needs all the sleep he/she can get? Although this doesn’t apply to babies alone, brain development is tied to the amount of sleep you get daily. This is because your brain is continuously carrying out tasks all through the day with no opportunity of winding down. It is only when you sleep that its job reduces and it has the opportunity to revitalise itself.
There is a popular saying in my country that goes like this; “Soldier go, soldier come. Barracks remains.” This simply means the world won’t stop revolving if you are no more on planet Earth. Your job will be given to someone else, and that task that you think can’t be done by another person will be carried out.
Constantly keep in mind that anytime you want to take that extra shift that will cut down on the amount of sleep you get today, remember that you are your NUMBER one priority.
