Sleep is key in performing well. Many individuals sacrifice their precious hours of sleep to study — or to watch Netflix. This reduces the amount of sleep from a healthy eight hours to only six or seven, sometimes even less. This is not enough rest to function properly on a daily basis. Although one may not feel it the next day, over time lack of sleep will affect our daily performance, along with many other things. Here’s a reminder of why we should all make it a point to get enough sleep.
1. Brain Function
Sleep helps your brain. This is the one time where your brain can have a break from the hectic day and prepare for the next. It will assist in forming new pathways conductive to memory and learning. For any individual, especially students, this is a facet of life that cannot be cut short — no matter how enticing that cliffhanger of the show you’re watching was or how important that test is.
2. Mental Health
Mental health isn’t something to be placed on the proverbial shelf. Getting a good night’s sleep is linked to a reduction in some mental ailments, such as depression, suicide and other risk taking behaviors.
3. Physical Health
Sleep benefits physical health in multiple ways. It benefits healing and development of internal organs such as the heart. Sleep deficiency is linked to increased risk for diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes and stroke. Your immune system also benefits from a normal amount of sleep. Less sleep means a weakened immune system which will open the door to illness. Another health benefit is maintenance of balanced hormones. Without sleep, certain hormones can cause different effects on the body, like becoming more hungry.
4. Daily Functioning
Sleep is needed for one’s performance in daily activities like school, work and driving. It assists in focusing and managing stress levels. With enough sleep deficiency, one may succumb to microsleep. When this occurs, sometimes it can’t even be recognized. A common example is when you arrive somewhere, but you can’t remember part, or even all, of the drive.
For more information on the importance of sleep visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health.