Did you know it takes four days of full rest to recover from losing just 1 hour of sleep? The quality of sleep you receive each night can profoundly impact your performance for the next day and weeks to follow. While sleeping for the recommended number of hours based on your age is essential, it is also important to ensure that the quality of that sleep is sufficient. This can include staying asleep, getting enough deep sleep and REM, and keeping a consistent sleep schedule.
Your Sleep Matters
Why is it important to get enough sleep each night? Getting adequate sleep is very important to your physical and mental health and is as crucial as having a good diet or getting enough exercise. Those with poor sleep quality are at a higher risk of diseases and disorders, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, and dementia.
Sleep is necessary for more than just your brain. Your body will have time to restore itself for the day ahead. Processes in the body like the immune system and blood vessels use sleep to repair and remove toxins from the system. After exercise, you need to sleep properly to allow your muscles to repair any tears and become stronger. Without quality sleep, your body will not have enough time to make these repairs to function at its fullest potential the next day, making the body weak and prone to illness.
Long and refreshing rest can completely change all of this. Like the body, the mind uses sleep to dump out information it no longer needs and prepares itself to learn, infer, and observe the world the next day. When we receive enough sleep, our mind is sharp, and we are prepared to tackle the day ahead.
Habits for Quality Sleep
It is never too late to change your sleeping habits to ensure a refreshing morning and day full of energy. In addition, these sleeping habits can become complete game-changers for those who haven’t been able to get good sleep.
Avoid electronics at least an hour or two before bed. Looking at bright screens before bed can strain your eyes and make it hard to fall asleep. If you must use a screen or device before bed, turn the brightness down or use a gentle blue light setting.
Chamomile tea is a popular sleep remedy that can help you rest easy. This is because the extract from the flower has a calming effect on the brain receptors, thus inducing sleep quickly.
Choose relaxing tasks to do before bed. Activities like taking a warm bath, yoga, or reading a book before bed can soothe your mind and ease you into a peaceful sleep.
In Conclusion
Why is sleep important? Getting good sleep consistently is essential to both our physical and mental health. It allows us to prevent certain diseases better, gain focus, and increase performance the next day. In addition, resting up properly is one of the best ways to prepare to tackle the day ahead.
