The importance of sleep
The following blog will explore sleep, a topic we should all be aware of to ensure we are facilitating optimum health and wellbeing.
Getting enough quality sleep can help protect your cognitive and physical health, ultimately improving your quality of life.
Majority of people seem to think that 8 hours is enough sleep for adults. However, many individuals will require far more than 8 hours to function well. Roger Federer, for example, is said to sleep for 12 hours per night!
Emotional Well-Being
Sleep helps regulate the central nervous system and therefore your cognitive function. While you're sleeping, your brain is preparing for the next day. It's 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 behaviour. This can lead to mood swings and irrational behaviour and decisions.
Sleep deficiency has been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behaviour.
Biggins et al. (2017) reported poor sleepers had lower general health and increased stress and confusion.
Physical Health
Sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.
Sleep also affects how your body reacts to insulin, the hormone that controls your blood glucose level. Sleep deficiency results in a higher than normal blood sugar level, which may increase your risk for diabetes.
Sleep also affects the immune system - those who sleep less than 5 hours per night have a 4.5 times chance of developing a cold than those who sleep at least 7 hours per night (Prather Er al, 2015).
For athletes or ‘gym-bods’, lack of sleep may prevent muscle hypertrophy and increase the risk of injury. Sleep is when the growth hormone responsible for muscle protein resynthesis is at its highest. Poor sleep can therefore result in muscle degradation. According to Knowles et al (2018) lack of sleep may impair maximal muscle strength in compound movements.
Military studies suggest sleep may be important for bone health and sleep deprivation may be a factor in the development of bone stress injuries (Finestone and Milgrom 2008).
A few tips for those struggling with sleep... 💤 😴
Have a bed time routine - try and go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Limit the difference to no more than about an hour. Staying up late and sleeping in late may be tempting when off work, but can disrupt how your ‘body clock’ is working.
Allow the hour before bed time to be calm and quiet. Set yourself a relaxing bed time routine such as reading a book or having a warm bath to allow your body and mind to relax.
Avoid nicotine and caffeine in the hours leading up to your bed time, as these are stimulants and can heavily interfere with sleep.
Ensure to be physically active each day, aiming for 30 minutes of moderate to high intensity exercise at least 5 days of the week.
Trial some relaxation or meditation techniques before you sleep.
Get rid of the bedroom clock if you have one.
Avoid using any type of screen while in bed and for the hour before bed time. The blue light from devices is thought to suppress sleep hormones.
If you enjoy a nap, avoid going over 30 minutes. If you nap in the day and then struggle to sleep at night, limit the naps or take them earlier in the day.
The key message is that sleep is important for us all and many factors can influence how much and the quality of sleep we get. Now we are aware of just how important sleep is for the body (physically and mentally), hopefully we can all ensure we take the steps to ensure we sleep well. Zzz
