With so much advancement in technology, Sleep Science has developed a lot to help us understand the importance of sleep. The researchers have been looking for a connection between sleep and physical health. The answer they found is that a good night’s sleep not only keeps you fresh but also your immune system. One of the most critical elements for our health is the immune system. It is a fundamental need to recover from injuries, heal wounds, infections, and other illnesses.
With Covid giving a serious hit on everybody’s health, we need to keep ourselves healthy, and a rich immune system can be beneficial. There are many ways to make your immunity system more robust, and one of them is a good night’s sleep. Experts say that lack of sleep and immunity are connected very closely with each other. You sleep less, and your immunity goes down, leaving you prone to common diseases like cold, cough, fever, and other serious illnesses too.
How Does Sleep Affect Our Health?
When you don’t have a good night’s sleep regularly, you experience fatigue, lack of focus, cranky and short temper. If you haven’t slept only for a night, then it makes you tired for no reason, irritable but does not harm your health. However, not sleeping regularly enough can harm your health in more ways than you can imagine.
If you continue not to sleep enough for several nights in a row, you will notice your body not responding correctly. This is because sleepless nights affect not just your physical health but also your mental health. Your decision-making process slows down, you don’t feel active, it becomes difficult to concentrate, and your brain fogs. You’ll feel sleepy during the day, and that could jeopardize your work and increase your chances of making mistakes.
You will have problems while driving, which could lead to accidents. Lack of sleep also affects your overall health. For example, it causes severe illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, extensive obesity or weight loss, and heart diseases. So, can good sleep improve immunity? Yes, it can, and below are the reasons you should sleep:
1. Weight Loss
Many people have observed that they gain weight if they don’t get enough sleep regularly. However, when you sleep for at least 7 hours every day, it helps you with weight loss. Research suggests that when you sleep less than 7 hours, you are more prone to obesity than others.
The body change is believed to happen because sleep-deprived people have low leptin levels and high ghrelin levels. Leptin is a chemical that makes us feel full, and ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates hunger.
2. Mental Wellbeing
A single sleepless night changes the mood for the following day and makes you irritable. Thus, not going through many sleepless nights on a regular basis can cause long-term problems like clinical depression, anxiety, and others. This proves that a night of good sleep is essential not just for your physical health but also mental health. Research has shown that Research shows that people who sleep less than 6 hours can see clinical depression symptoms more often.
3. Diabetes
Yes, sleeping properly can help you to avoid diabetes. People who sleep less than 5 hours become more susceptible to diabetes, and that’s why it is essential to sleep correctly. The glucose processing in your body is disrupted when you don’t get enough sleep leading to type 2 diabetes.
4. Sex Drive
Women and men who don’t sleep enough have less interest in sexual activities due to lower libidos. As a man, if you are suffering from sleep apnea, have lower testosterone levels. Sleep apnea is a condition where you experience breathing difficulties leading to sleep interruption. The testosterone levels go down and due to sleep apnea, and it further decreases libido.
5. Heart Diseases
Sleep helps to fight diseases. When you don’t sleep for long, it increases your heart rate, blood pressure, and other combustible chemicals. These chemicals and different increases levels put extra strain on the heart, which can cause you to have heart diseases. It also increases your chances of collapsing suddenly without any indication.
6. Fertility Increment
Sleep deprivation is one of the reasons, experts suggest, you may be unable to conceive. Fertility problems can arise in both men and women. The secretions of reproductive hormones are reduced when you don’t get enough sleep. Especially young people don’t realize the importance of sleep until later stages in life when they cannot conceive.
7. Immunity System
One of the fundamental systems that help our body to stay active is the immunity system. Getting a night of good sleep is another factor that helps to keep your immune system functioning and, in turn, keeping your body active. You can also keep your immunity high by avoiding smoking and alcohol. However, the easiest way to boost your immunity is to get regular long-hour sleep.
How to Get Good Sleep?
We have already discussed the importance of sleep, but how to get a good night’s sleep? There are ways for that too. However, if your sleep schedule has been irregular for a long, then you’ll need a process to unwind it. Exercising every day can help you to sleep better as it wears you down. You can also try different breathing exercises like yoga or pranayama.
You can also try other things like massage with scented candles. Such massages help your muscles to relax, increase blood flow in your body and sleep for long. You can also meditate with chants like “Om.” The chant increases the flow of blood in your body and relaxes the mind. Other methods like reading a book before bed and listening to music also help people fall asleep quickly. Also, avoiding coffee, electronic gadgets, and alcohol two hours before bed can put you fast to sleep.
Many people say that their mattress keeps them up at night due to comfort issues. You can visit a mattress store and find the perfect mattress that can help you to sleep better. There are sleep experts at some stores who will walk you through all kinds of mattresses so you can make your choice. You can book an in-store appointment in stores like Mancini’s Sleepworld. They are available in 34 locations across the states.