I’ve never met a person who didn’t love sleeping. You come home, wash off the day, put on comfy pajamas, and the pillow and blanket fairies chariot you off to dreamland; blissfully content. We all love it, but are we getting enough of it?
With busy schedules, impending and overextended deadlines, club commitments, work, and social obligations, sleep is often overlooked. It doesn’t always feel like a productive part of your day, so you cut yourself down to six hours a night. Or you have this huge paper that you haven’t started yet, so you’ll just pull an all night, just this once. Or you really need to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy, and it’s only 2AM! In the land of overbooked and overstressed college students, a full night’s sleep becomes fairytale, an unattainable dream. But here’s a list of why you should stop dreaming about dreaming, and start actually dreaming (AKA sleep more!)
- Sleep helps you be more productive during the day. When your body rests, and temporarily halts the intake of stimuli, it allows your brain time to process the memories of the day and form important connections called synapses between cells. This makes your brain more efficient, which will help productivity during your busy days.
- Similarly, sleep helps reaction times. Because your brain is more efficient, it works faster. This is why sleep deprived people should not drive cars.
- Sleep helps your health. It ensures that your body has time to recuperate from the long day, and encourages your immune system to perform the way it should. Also, people who sleep the recommended 8 hours are at far lesser a risk of heart disease and stroke.
- More sleep means less stress. When you sleep, the muscles in your body release their tension and your body and mind relax. Not getting enough sleep leads to higher levels of stress, and therefore higher risk of mental health disorders, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, and other health problems.
- Not getting enough sleep can lead to weight gain. Longer waking hours increases opportunity for late night snacking, and since digestion slows down at night, the food doesn’t get broken down properly.
- Sleep improves social interactions. Consistently getting eight hours of sleep significantly improves energy, average mood, and willingness to socialize. No one likes to be snapped at by a cranky person, so get your full night’s rest, for your friends’ sakes!
Sleep is more than just a fun relaxing activity to work into your busy schedule; it’s a necessity for your health and happiness. If your dream is a full night’s sleep, in the wise words of Shia Labeouf: “Make your dreams come true!” Put on your favorite set of pajamas, curl up under the covers, and get some shut eye!
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