Why Do We Sleep? What Sleep Does For Your Body
Sleep may very well be one of the most fascinating parts of the human experience. Besides the fact that it’s impossible to even put what sleep is into words (just try it, you’ll see), it has the power to either make you or break you. A good night’s sleep feels like a multivitamin, protein shake and, B12 shot all in one. A bad night’s sleep feels like an automatic ticket to a terrible day.
In honor of World Sleep Day, here’s a look at the basics of sleep - what it is, why we need it and what it does for our overall health.
Why is sleep important?
It’s obvious that we need sleep to survive and thrive, yet the exact biological purpose of sleep remains a mystery to scientists. Obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are several conditions that can develop over long periods of time from lack of sleep. Most experts have stated that getting enough high-quality sleep could be as important to health and well-being as nutrition and exercise.
What does sleep do for the body?
Even though it feels like you’re doing nothing when you’re sleeping, your mind and body are doing quite a bit. Sleep is an active period in which a lot of important restoration, processing and strengthening takes place. Here are some of the functions your body is undertaking while you’re off in dreamland:
The brain stores new information.
The brain releases hormones that encourage tissue growth to repair blood vessels.
Nerve cells communicate and reorganize.
The body repairs cells and restores energy.
The body makes more white blood cells that can attack viruses and bacteria that can hinder the healing process.
Why does a lack of sleep affect your body's performance?
Think back to some of the days when you were operating on little sleep. Would you describe yourself as bright, sharp and cheerful? Probably not. And there are good reasons to explain why. When you sleep your brain processes your daily experiences, and helps to release hormones regulating energy, mood, and mental state. To finish its work, the brain typically needs between 7 to 8 hours of sleep. When it gets less than that, your mood regulation, concentration, creativity, and productivity all take a huge hit.
There’s a lot of talk about toxins because of cleanse culture but it turns out that toxins could be a major contributor to your day after a miserable night of sleep. Research from the University of Rochester provided the first direct evidence for why your brain cells need you to sleep and to sleep the right way.
The study found that when you sleep, your brain removes toxic proteins from its neurons that are by-products of neural activity when you’re awake. Unfortunately, your brain can remove them adequately only while you’re asleep. So if you don’t get enough sleep, the toxic proteins can remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think and react all day long. This slows your ability to process information and problem solve which can ruin your creative thinking skills and drastically increase your stress levels.
Too little sleep means too much cortisol
Are you tossing and turning all night then waking up and feeling off? Deep sleep is necessary for hormonal regulation, physical renewal and growth. Without deep sleep, you’re more likely to get sick, feel depressed, and gain weight. When you don’t sleep enough, or get the right sleep, your body is likely to overproduce the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol has a list of negative health effects including weight gain, muscle weakness, irritability, difficulty concentrating and high blood pressure. And as for the term “beauty sleep", turns out it’s a real thing. Elevated levels of cortisol can reduce the quality of your skin and keep you from having a healthy glow.
Why you eat more and make unhealthy food choices when you don’t sleep enough
The next time you don’t sleep well, take note of your cravings and what you eat.
Sleep deprivation compromises your body’s ability to metabolize carbs and control food intake. That means when you sleep less, you’re likely to eat more and have more difficulty burning the calories you consume. And on top of that, sleep deprivation has been shown to make people hungrier by increasing the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and making it harder for people to get full by reducing levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin.
How to get more sleep and better quality sleep
In order to live a life full of health and happiness, getting a good night’s sleep should be high on your list of personal goals right alongside eating well and exercising. There are a number of ways you can take an active role in getting better sleep from improving your sleep schedule to replacing your mattress to dealing with serious concerns like insomnia. But the first step is to understand how important sleep is to your overall health and make a commitment to getting better sleep every night.
Happy World Sleep Day! Sleep tight everyone.
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