Everybody loves sleep. Of course, it’s a requirement for life, but it’s also a popular favorite among most people. A great sleep just seems to make everything better. The entire day is brighter, and you feel healthier, but you might be surprised by how many benefits actually come from a great night of sleep. Here are a few of the greatest reasons to love sleep.
Strengthen your memory
This is one of the main things that your brain does while you are asleep. Short-term memories from the day get consolidated and reorganized for long-term storage. Your brain also uses sleep to analyze the events of the day. It will learn from mistakes and improve on strengths. It is believed that this is the purpose of dreams. Once your mind has had a chance to work through everything that has happened, and how it can be used in the future, it will invent a dream that will allow it to practice an improved method of dealing with something that happened, or something that might happen in the future. Although most people don’t realize it, sleep is one of the most important factors of learning. This makes it especially important for children, young adults, and students.
Be more creative
The strengthening and reorganization of memories that occurs while you sleep actually comes with a number of benefits. For example, people who sleep well, and for an appropriate amount of time tend to be more creative. This actually makes logical sense. When you wake up from three or four hours of sleep, you may have trouble pouring a bowl of cereal and making it to the car, but if you get seven to nine hours of sleep, you could write a novel, or paint a mural. Okay, so it may not be a masterpiece, but it will be much easier to do with sleep than without.
Be more focused
You may not be surprised to read that a lack of sleep can shorten your attention span. In fact, not getting enough sleep can lead to symptoms that are similar to those produced by ADHD. Although this tends to be much worse in children, people of all ages struggle to stay focused on anything for an extended period of time if they have not gotten the proper amount of sleep.
Be smarter
This may be obvious, but it’s still worth mentioning because it’s a huge benefit of getting enough sleep. Most students would report that their grades suffer, often significantly, when they fall behind on their sleep. This is likely due to the same reasons mentioned above. Remember, sleep is when your mind sorts through everything you learned during the day. If it doesn’t have a chance to do that, you’ll be much more likely to forget the things that you learned. It’s also pretty obvious that when your focus suffers, so does your learning, as well as any work you do to prove that you’re learning.
Reduce pain
Many people do not realize that there is a direct link between getting enough sleep and pain reduction. Of course, sleep is rarely a complete solution, especially if there is a lot of pain, perhaps from a major injury. However, it has repeatedly been found to help reduce pain, especially when paired with related medication. Unfortunately, pain can often make it difficult to go to sleep. This can make the situation worse, as pain leads to lack of sleep and lack of sleep leads to pain. If you find yourself in this scenario, consider taking medication to reduce pain or help you sleep, or both. Make sure to talk to your doctor first, as mixing the wrong medications can have negative side effects.
Live a longer life
Although scientists aren’t sure yet, it is believed that getting the right amount of sleep can lead to a longer period of life. Although studies haven’t proven that sleep is the direct cause of living longer, they have shown that people live longer when they sleep for a healthy amount of time. Be careful though, there is a limit. Not getting enough sleep is obviously detrimental, but getting too much sleep can cause problems as well.
Manage your weight
Although we have not gone into the depths of the health benefits that come from getting a full night of sleep here, know that they are numerous. One of the biggest health-related benefits is an improved ability to manage weight. To be more specific, people who get more sleep are likely to lose more fat, while those who do not get enough sleep are more likely to lose muscle. It’s worth noting that people who get less sleep are more likely to be hungry. It also makes sense that you’ll burn more fat when you feel awake and active, than when you feel sleepy and lazy.
Don’t get sick
Your body’s immune system is the main defense you have against all sorts of things you don’t want to catch, but it needs energy to function. Some of this energy can be found in food and water, but much of it comes from sleep. Prevent illness, even things that don’t have good medical treatments like the common cold, simply by getting plenty of sleep every night.
Avoid depression
Depression is a major problem, and many people deal with it on a daily basis. Unfortunately, there are numerous factors that cause people to slip into this world where nothing really matters. While it’s hard, if not impossible, to avoid all of these factors and dodge depression completely, getting enough sleep is a good start. Sleeping gives our body a chance to reset, and to heal itself, both physically and mentally. In addition to getting enough sleep, it’s helpful to keep to a consistent sleep schedule, preferably going to bed early and waking up early.
Stay safe
Sleep deprivation can negatively affect things like your reaction time, and even your ability to make decisions. In most situations, this is annoying, at most. But on the road, these impediments can greatly raise the chances of an accident. A lack of sleep can cause many of the same symptoms in your body and mind as alcohol, and often to the same degree. Although many people don’t consider driving while tired to be a problem, it sometimes causes even more accidents than drunk driving. Avoid accidents on the road, and in other areas of your life, by getting enough sleep every night.
Have less stress
If you have a lot of stress in your life, you should have a lot of sleep in your life too. Sleep directly affects your stress level. Unfortunately, stress can also affect how much sleep you get. If at all possible, it’s best to get ahead of this downward spiral by getting as much sleep as possible from the beginning. Don’t worry if you didn’t get enough sleep last night. Your stress levels probably aren’t spiraling out of control. But be sure not to make it a habit. Weeks or months of sleep deprivation can cause all sorts of problems.
Do you feel like you haven’t been getting enough sleep? Contact you local Urban Mattress store. We can find you a mattress that will help you take advantage of all of these benefits.