We will start with what the impact of not sleep enough can have.
- Short sleep can negatively impact some brain function similarly to alcohol. This can then affect your productivity at work.
- Poor performance with exercise. Your workout sessions could diminish, meaning you will not get the gains you are after.
- Continual poor sleep has been linked with depression. Ever noticed that when you are tired you tend to be grumpy and everything becomes 10x more annoying? Sleep helps you stay calm in these situations.
Now lets look at the positives of a good night sleep averaging 7-9hrs.
- Improved cognitive function and productivity.
- Better problem solving skills. Getting a few z’s can help keep your brain sharp. You will be able to focus for longer periods on the task in hand.
- Enhanced memory performance. When we are asleep our brains are processing what has gone on during the day and organising those memories. So if we don’t get enough sleep our brains don’t do this and so we remember less.
- Reduced risk of chronic diseases due to reduced blood pressure when we are asleep. Your blood pressure reduces due to the body being in a state of relaxation easing the pressure being put on your heart to pump blood around the body. This can greatly reduce the risk of chronic diseases in the future.
- Mood boost. We process emotions in the right way but if we sleep for a short period we see the emotions more negatively rather than positively.
- Muscle Repair and growth. When we rest our bodies are able to repair muscles that we cause micro tears in when we exercise. Muscle adaptation can help with increased performance in the gym and raising your basal metabolic rate.
- Better immune response As you don’t have anything to do when you sleep your body can look after itself. Production of white blood cells that help fight virus and such when they enter our bodies. So when you are ill, try grabbing a few extras hours in bed.
- Weight control. People who had less sleep were shown to have an increased calorie intake of up to 20%! Whether this is due to a longer period to eat in or needed because of extra energy to stay awake during the day. But that is an extra 500cals a day. The difference between putting on weight or reaching your goal.
