We all know that sleep is very important in our lives. However, not everyone can just sleep well every night. According to Dr. Meir Kryger, a professor of pulmonary medicine and a clinical professor of nursing at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut, a sleep routine is one of the behaviors that are part of sleep hygiene.
Efforts are needed to make sure that you sleep well, and that includes eating healthy meals and not drinking too much coffee. All of these small things are connected in terms of function and that all of them are connected to the body clock. Dr. Kryger said that once you have developed a sleep routine, there are benefits that you can gain.
1. Helps your body heal and repair itself
When you sleep, your bodies heal and repair itself. Your body can't keep on running, you will need to catch a break and rest. When you sleep, your body produces most of your growth hormone that results in bone growth. Your tissues rest, it relaxes your muscles and it reduces inflammation. Each cell and organ have their own clock that plays a role in optimizing how your body works.
2. Lowers risk for disease
Sleep protects us against different types of diseases. When people get too much sleep or too little sleep, there is an increase in the risk of deaths and other diseases. Some of the diseases include diabetes and heart problems. The healing period that sleep gives allows your cells that would cause the disease to repair themselves.
3. Improves cognitive function
Proper sleep helps with your cognitive function and boosts your creativity. Cognitive function describes your mental abilities to think, learn, remember, reason, problem-solve, pay attention, and make decisions.
National Sleep Foundation stated that as you sleep, your memories are reactivated, connections between your brain cells are strengthened and information is transferred from short-term to long-term. Without enough sleep, you will be forgetful.
4. Reduces stress
When you sleep in great quantity and quality, it can enhance your mood and it can also encourage your brain's ability to regulate emotional responses to both emotional and neutral events.
5. Helps maintain a healthy weight
If you are trying to lose weight but are struggling, check on the amount of sleep that you get. Maintaining a proper sleep schedule can help you maintain a healthy weight or it can help increase your chances of losing excess fat.
Leptin and ghrelin are the two hormones that control your urge to eat even though you are not hungry. Leptin is a hormone that tells you that you are full, while ghrelin is the hormone that communicates hunger. If you do not get enough sleep, both of these hormones veer in the wrong direction. It can result in an increase in hunger and it can lead to overeating and gaining weight.
6. Supports your mental health
Dr. Kryger said that mental health disorders are usually linked to substandard sleep and a sleep deficit that can lead to depressive symptoms even if you do not have a chronic disorder.
Dr. Kryger said that getting the right amount of sleep is very important in preventing a mental illness or the appearance of mental illness. Sleeping enough can lead to mood and stress regulation and it can also make the treatment of mental illnesses more efficacious if a patient sleeps enough.
Related Article : Seven Ways to Get More Sleep That Go Beyond Spending More Time in Bed
