It's important to get enough sleep. Sleep helps keep your mind and body healthy. Studies show getting quality sleep on a regular basis can help improve all sorts of issues, from your blood sugar to your workouts. Here are 5 reasons why you should call it an early night.
1). Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy - Heart attacks and strokes are more likely to occur during the early morning hours, which may be due to the way sleep interacts with the blood vessels. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, which are risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
2). Sharper Brain - When you're running low on sleep, you'll probably have trouble holding onto and recalling details. That's because sleep plays a big part in both learning and memory. Without enough sleep, it's tough to focus and take in new information. Your brain also doesn't have enough time to properly store memories so you can pull them up later. Sleep lets your brain catch up so you're ready for what's next.
3). Sleep Reduces Stress - When your body is sleep deficient, it goes into a state of stress. The body's functions are put on high alert, which causes high blood pressure and the production of stress hormones. High blood pressure increases your risk for heart attack and stroke, and the stress hormones make it harder to fall asleep.
4). Weight Control - When you're well-rested, you're less hungry. Being sleep-deprived messes with the hormones in your brain -- leptin and ghrelin -- that control appetite.
With those out of balance, your resistance to the temptation of unhealthy foods goes way down. And when you're tired, you're less likely to want to get up and move your body. Together, it's a recipe for putting on pounds.
The time you spend in bed goes hand-in-hand with the time you spend at the table and at the gym to help you manage your weight.
5). Sleep Improves Your Memory - Researchers do not fully understand why we sleep and dream, but they have found that sleep plays an important role in a process called memory consolidation. During sleep, your body may be resting, but your brain is busy processing your day, making connections between events, sensory input, feelings, and memories.
Deep sleep is a very important time for your brain to make memories and links, and getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.