9 SURPRISING REASONS TO GET MORE SLEEP
What difference could an extra hour of sleep make in your life? Maybe quite a lot, experts say. Studies show that the gap between getting just enough sleep and getting too little sleep may affect your health, your mood, your weight, and even your sex life. If you're getting less than the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep a night, here are nine reasons that you should shut down your computer, turn off the lights, and go to bed an hour early tonight.
1. BETTER HEALTH: Getting a good night's sleep won't grant you immunity from disease. But study after study has found a link between insufficient sleep and some serious health problems, such as heart disease, heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity. In most cases, the health risks from sleep loss only become serious after years. That might not always be true, however. One study simulated the effects of the disturbed sleep patterns of shift workers on 10 young healthy adults. After a mere four days, three of them had blood glucose levels that qualified as pre-diabetic.
2. BETTER SEX LIFE: According to a poll, up to 26% of people say that their sex lives tend to suffer because they're just too tired. There's evidence that in men, impaired sleep can be associated with lower testosterone levels. Of course, not getting enough sleep can affect your love life in less direct ways too.
3. LESS PAIN: If you have chronic pain - or acute pain from a recent injury - getting enough sleep may actually make you hurt less. Many studies have shown a link between sleep loss and lower pain threshold. Unfortunately, being in pain can make it hard to sleep. Researchers have found that getting good sleep can supplement medication for pain.
4. LOWER RISK OF INJURY: Sleeping enough might actually keep you safer. Sleep deprivation has been linked with many notorious disasters. Any kind of accident is more likely when you're exhausted. When you're overtired, you're more likely to trip, or fall off a ladder, or cut yourself while chopping vegetables.
5. BETTER MOOD: Getting enough sleep won't guarantee a sunny dispostion. But you have probably noticed that when you're exhausted, you're more likely to be cranky. That's not all - not getting enough sleep affects your emotional regulation.
6. BETTER WEIGHT CONTROL: Getting enough sleep could help you maintain your weight - and conversely, sleep loss goes along with an increased risk of weight gain. Why? Part of the problem is behavioral. If you're overtired, you might be less lekely to have the energy to go for that job or cook a healthy dinner after work. The other part is physiological. The hormone leptin plays a key role in making you feel full. When you don't get enough sleep, leptin levels drop. Result - people who are tired are just pain hungrier.
7. CLEARER THINKING: Have yo ever woken up after a bad night's sleep, feeling fuzzy and easily confused, like your brain can't get out of first gear? Sleep loss affects how you think. It impairs your cognition, your attention, and your decision-making.
8. BETTER MEMORY: Feeling forgetful? Sleep loss could be to blame. Studies have shown that while we sleep, our brains process and consolidate our memories from the day. If you don' get enough sleep, it seems like those memories might not get stored correctly - and can be lost.
9. STRONGER IMMUNITY: Could getting enough sleep prevent the common cold? One preliminary study put the idea to the test. Researchers tracked over 150 people and monitored their sleep habits for two weeks. Then they exposed them to a cold virus. People who got seven hours of sleep a night or less were almost three times as likely to get sick as the people who got at least eight hours of sleep a night. More research is needed to establish a real link; this study was small and other factors may have influenced the results. Still, you can't go wrong getting eight hours of sleep when possible.
source: www.webmd.com
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