Healthy Brain Function
Ever have one of those days or even weeks where you just feel off? Losing productivity at work or at home? You may not be getting enough sleep at night! Studies have shown that not getting enough sleep can actually alter or halt the formation of different pathways in the brain that help us retain, process and even learn new information. With a renewed mind you and your body can accomplish a lot more day to day!
Optimal Physical Health
Not only can lack of sleep affect your focus but it can have a direct impact on how your organs function as well! Sleep helps the body repair itself and reset many vital functions and systems that run the body. Some research has linked an increased risk of stroke and/or heart attack with sleep deprivation. While we sleep, our bodies help rest and repair the heart and its key components to make sure it can run smoothly. Our central nervous system also needs rest in order to function optimally. While we sleep our brain can form new pathways and our nervous system can refresh for the busy next day ahead. Whether you have a busy next day at the office or a vigorous physically demanding day planned in the gym you can bet on sleep playing a huge role in your performance.
Fight Unwanted Weight Gain
Working out in the gym but not shedding those last few extra pounds? If you haven’t been getting your sleep every night, that hard work might be going to waste. Sleep helps your body balance essential hormones like leptin and ghrelin that are play a key role in metabolism and managing hunger. Ghrelin is a hormone that makes you feel hungry while leptin is the hormone that makes you feel full. When you don’t get enough rest, your body’s balance of ghrelin to leptin goes up, making you feel hungrier. This tends to have an effect on how frequent a person tends to eat and resulting in an increase effect on weight gain from a person eating a surplus or overload amount of calories at odd times of the day.
How much sleep should I be getting you may ask? While the number of hours varies person to person, the average adult should be getting anywhere from 7.5 to 9 hours quality sleep per night while infants, toddlers and even teenagers should be getting an average of 10- 14 hours per night in order to ensure proper health.
Sleep has many benefits and perks that add to a person’s life. So get more sleep at night and seize the day! You owe it to yourself to be as successful and the healthiest that you can be.
by Dustin Holler CPT
