Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health and spiritual health.
The way you feel while you are awake depends in part, on the quality of your sleep. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.
The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems such as cancer, diabetes and/or heart disease. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn and get along with others.
Brain Function and Emotional Well-Being
Studies show that a good night’s sleep improves learning. While you are sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It is forming new pathways to help you learn and remember information. Sleep also helps you pay attention, make decisions and be creative.
Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior and coping with change. Sleep deficiency also has been linked to depression, suicide and risk-taking behavior.
Children and teens who are sleep deficient may have problems getting along with others. They may feel angry and impulsive, have mood swings, feel sad or depressed or lack motivation. They also may have problems paying attention and they may get lower grades and feel stressed.
Physical Health
Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. Regeneration and repair takes place during a good nights sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is an effortless technique to create longevity and vitality. Deep rest during the night helps you fight stress, maintain a healthy weight and keep your energy levels high.
Sleep also supports healthy growth and development. Deep sleep triggers the body to release the hormone that promotes normal growth in children and teens. This hormone also boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in children, teens, and adults. Sleep also plays a role in puberty and fertility.
Your immune system relies on sleep to stay healthy. This system defends your body against foreign or harmful substances. Ongoing sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds.
Daytime Performance and Safety
Getting enough quality sleep at the right times helps you function well throughout the day. People who are sleep deficient are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes.
After several nights of losing sleep (even a loss of just 1-2 hours per night) your ability to function suffers as if you have not slept at all for a day or two.
Lack of sleep also may lead to micro-sleep. Micro-sleep refers to brief moments of sleep that occur when you are normally awake. If you’re listening to a lecture, for example, you might miss some of the information or feel like you don’t understand the point. In reality, though, you may have slept through part of the lecture and not been aware of it.
Some people are not aware of the risks of sleep deficiency. In fact, they may not even realize that they are sleep deficient. Even with limited or poor-quality sleep, they may still think that they can function well. For example, drowsy drivers may feel capable of driving. Yet, studies show that sleep deficiency harms your driving ability as much as, or more than, being drunk. It’s estimated that driver sleepiness is a factor in about 100,000 car accidents each year, resulting in about 1,500 deaths.
Drivers aren’t the only ones affected by sleep deficiency. It can affect people in all lines of work, including health care workers, pilots, students, lawyers, mechanics, and assembly line workers. As a result, sleep deficiency is not only harmful on a personal level, but it also can cause large-scale damage. For example, sleep deficiency has played a role in human errors linked to tragic accidents, such as nuclear reactor meltdowns, grounding of large ships, and aviation accidents.
Here are some tips to get a good night rest:
- Cut Caffeine and Restrict Nicotine
- Avoid Using Alcohol as a Sleep Aid
- Exercise at the Right Time for You
- Keep Your Bedroom Quiet, Dark, and Comfortable
- Pay Attention to What You Eat and Drink
- Keep Pets Off the Bed
- Avoid Watching TV, Eating and Discussing Emotional Issues in Bed
- Stick to a Sleep Schedule
- Take a Hot Bath Before Bed
If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late. -Henny Youngman