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Importance of Sleep
Before Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, people slept an average of 10 hours a night. Today, we average just 6.9 hours of sleep on weeknights and 7.5 hours per night on weekends—a far cry from our pre-light bulb days!
Sleep experts agree that most adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep each night for good health, optimal mood, increased productivity, and safety in the home, on the job, and on the road. Not convinced? Read on for more reasons to hit the sack.
1) It helps you maintain a strong immune system. Sleep deprivation makes you more vulnerable to disease and has been linked to problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
2) It keeps your memory sharp. When sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to complete all the phases needed for memory consolidation. As a result, your memory, concentration, and job performance can become impaired.
3) It helps you lose weight. Sleeplessness elevates levels of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for appetite stimulation and lowers levels of the hormone leptin, responsible for feelings of fullness, which could leave you eating more.
4) It decelerates aging. Too little sleep may cause levels of stress hormones to soar while decreasing levels of growth hormone integral for tissue growth and cell repair.
5) It makes you happier. Insomniacs are at higher risk of alcoholism, depression, and suicide.
So don’t consider spending one-third of our day sleeping as being unproductive. As you can see, sleep has a direct affect on how productive the other two-thirds of our day can be.