Overview

People tend to neglect the benefits of getting enough sleep during the night and won’t pay attention to their sleep habits until it’s too late.

Sleep is important for many of the body’s physiological processes, including:

Memory consolidation

The prevention of many chronic diseases

Maintaining a potent immune system

The regulation of hormonal physiology

In this article, we are going to dig deeper into some of the benefits of getting enough sleep.

The benefits of healthy sleep

Helps with weight loss

The connection between poor sleep and obesity has been established in multiple clinical trials and studies.

In fact, one meta-analysis found that individuals who sleep for shorter hours are at a higher risk to become obese in the future.

Moreover, sleep-deprived individuals report having an increased appetite, which is most likely due to the action of sleep on regulating hunger-suppressing hormones, such as ghrelin and leptin.

Improves your memory

Getting enough sleep during the night is crucial for the normal functioning of your memory. Sleep helps the brain perform what’s known as ‘memory consolidation’.

As you may know, we have two types of memories: short-term memory and long-term memory. All the information that we receive during the day gets encoded in our short-term memory. However, if we want this information to stick, it needs to be transferred to the long-term memory – this process usually occurs during sleep.

This is the reason researchers don’t recommend pulling an all-nighter before the exam, as most of the information you study is going to be lost.

Controls your stress and improves your mood

Sleep deprivation causes an active state of vigilance.

This will trigger the fight or flight system (sympathetic nervous system), resulting in the release of stress hormones, such as epinephrine and cortisol.

In conclusion, you will spend the next day stressed and in a bad mood.

Improves the look of your skin

The National Sleep Foundation states that sleep restriction precipitates skin inflammation and flareups of certain dermatological conditions (e.g., psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, eczema).

It can also accelerate age-related skin changes, such as wrinkles and sagging skin.

So, it goes without saying that sleeping sufficient hours will help you get the glowing skin you’ve always dreamed of.

Increases productivity

Sleeping for 7-8 hours every night will help regulate your hormones, as well as your circadian rhythm. Consequently, it will improve your energy levels and make you more productive every day.

Takeaway message

Healthy sleep offers a myriad of benefits that cover your mental and physical wellbeing. Make sure to sleep for 7–9 hours every night and don’t forget to pay attention to your sleep environment.

We hope that this article helped you appreciate the value of healthy sleep and how it optimizes your health.

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