Sleep is one of the best things for our health, and waking up after a good night’s sleep can leave us refreshed, energized, and ready for the day.
However, sleep is one of the things that can often be overlooked in today’s society, even though there are a number of surprising benefits to a good night’s sleep. According to sleep expert Shawn Stevenson, millions of us are chronically sleep deprived today. He goes on to say that sleep deprivation can lead to immune system failure, diabetes, cancer, obesity, depression and memory loss, just to name a few.
He says the best time to go to sleep is around 10 p.m., which is the time when melatonin kicks in for adults and you start to feel drowsy. Melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep and wake cycles. It is between 10 pm and 2 am that you get the best quality of sleep and your body repairs itself.
There is also an economic impact of lack of sleep. The Sleep School (thesleepschool.org), says that “poor sleep costs the economy £40bn every year”. The Rand Report (2016) takes a detailed look at the economic impact of getting too little sleep.
Sleep has been shown to help with the conversion of short-term memories into long-term memories and helps with our level of creativity. Health.com cites that researchers from Harvard University and Boston College found that “people appear to strengthen the emotional components of memory during sleep, which may help stimulate the creative process.”
He also cites a Stanford University study linking more than 10 hours of sleep per night to higher performance, more stamina, and less daytime fatigue among college football players.
Personally, I’ve only recently begun to understand the amazing benefits of a good night’s sleep. Before changing my sleeping habits and going to bed much earlier, I found that most of the time, I felt lethargic during the day, was constantly exhausted, and had limited focus.
Going to bed before midnight and getting seven to nine hours of sleep on average means that I now have more energy during the day, focus better, and am more productive than before.
Lack of sleep can have a serious effect on our cognitive functions, mood and, over time, can contribute to chronic diseases, from CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) to cancer. Research suggests that the optimal amount of sleep we need per night is 7-10 hours.
So try this for the next seven days:
1. Go to bed before midnight and sleep a minimum of 7-8 hours. If you have trouble sleeping, at least take the opportunity to rest your body as much as you can in bed.
2. Take note throughout the week of how you feel, how you function during the day, and how you interact with those around you.
3. At the end of the week reflect on what you should do to improve your sleep pattern
Sleep well!