21 Benefits of Sleep

How many hours do you sleep every night? Do you think that affects your health and productivity in a day, whether you do it more or less? Read on to learn important benefits of sleep. We all know sleep is vital for our health and it’s what we cannot do without. As a matter of fact, an average person cannot go beyond 11 consecutive days of no sleep. Just by the end of fourth day, the person is already hallucinating and the brain is about to shut down. But why is sleep that important? We would know from what it does to our health and body. Sleep has health, emotional, physical and mental benefits to us. Here are 21 of them. 

1. Sleep improves wakefulness and alertness: Good sleeping time would mean good waking time. If you sleep well, you will wake up well and be at alert. This is important for everything that you do when you are awake. 

2. Sleep reduces stress and anxiety: When you sleep, the stress hormones levels in the body come down and that makes stress and anxiety to be reduced while awake. 

3. Sleep fights depression and improves happiness: When you have time to sleep, you don’t have time to think negative thoughts. When you are awake, the heavy weight of negative thoughts is lessened and you can think of better ways of to solve any problem you go through and becoming happier. 

4. Sleep decreases recklessness and impulsivity: Getting enough sleep for the day keeps you calm. You are not impulsive and grumpy. Your emotions are poised and balanced. 

5. Sleep increases productivity: For sure, this is one thing that is certain. The better you sleep, the better you’re productive. When you improve the quality of your sleep, you will improve the quality of your life. You’ll have strength and agility. 

6. Sleep improves communication: It’s difficult to communicate with someone who’s short of sleep, feeling drowsy and tired. But when you have enough time to sleep, your brain and circulatory system are working at optimal level. 

7. Sleep improves memory and learning: If you wonder how you learn that language, or how you learn how to ride a bicycle, it is because of sleep. While you sleep, your daily activities and practice are perfected and memories are consolidated. That’s why sometimes, when you are learning something new, you dream about it. The dream is an evidence of how sleep improves your memory and learning. 

8. Sleep causes better reaction time: Your reaction time is measured by how responsive you are to instant situations. It also indicates how fast and well you can take action in emergency situations. Sleep improves your reaction time and keeps you ready for emergencies. 

9. Sleep causes better decision making: When you sleep well, you will think well. You will get from your memory all the thoughts and information needed to make the right decision. 

10. Sleep makes one physically fit; You’re physically fit when you sleep well. You’re able to stretch your legs and arms, and move your body as you roll over your bed, and stand to your feet. 

11. Sleep flourishes the skin: Sleep keeps your skin fresh and warm. The wounded parts also get healed while you sleep. 

12. Sleep builds the muscle: Your muscles receive adequate nutrients and oxygen when you sleep. And that makes them grow and healthy. 

13. Sleep makes the body grow; Sleep increases the level of growth hormone in the body. Growth hormone causes bone growth and cell division all over the body. 

14. Sleep regulates the body weight: When you sleep, your body metabolizes the nutrients that you get from food and use it for energy. This balances the body weight and makes you stay off food. 

15. Sleep boosts sex drive: While you have good sleep at night, just before you wake up, there’s a surge in testosterone secretion in your body which causes morning erection (morning wood) that is seen in men. This increases your sex drive and makes you enjoy morning sex with your spouse. 

16. Sleep boosts the body immunity: Studies have shown that sleep boosts the body’s immune system. There’s increased level of activity of the immune cells, secretion of antibodies and fight against foreign agents, during sleep. 

17. Sleep reduces diabetes: There’s low level of insulin secretion during sleep which causes the blood glucose level to be regulated and prevent diabetes. 

18. Sleep reduces or stop migraines and headaches: there’s increased blood flow to the brain during sleep which reduces the amount of waste products and chemical substances that cause pain in the brain. And also reduces the tension between the blood vessel walls. 

19. Sleep improves heart health: The blood pressure, heart rate and other hemodynamic parameters are regulated during sleep and the heart pumps out blood well. 

20. Sleep fights cancer: There’s deactivation and suppression of cancerous cells during sleep by the immune cells. While some body systems are less active during sleep, systems like immune system are very active during sleep and fish out all the foreign and abnormal agents in the body. 

21. Sleep reduces accidents: As humans sleep one-third to one-quarter of their lifespan, that reduces the tendency of being on the road most of the time, which makes accidents less certain to occur. Perhaps, the more you sleep, the less you face risks and have accidents. 

In conclusion, while you don’t want to oversleep, you also don’t want to undersleep, because none is good for the body. If you sleep too much, you may be tired, fatigue and feel exhausted. If you sleep too little, you may also feel tired, grumpy and narcoleptic. Normal level is just right. Depending on your age, sex, physique and other factors, that would determine how much sleep you would need. But on average, between 6-8 hours is good for adults and 7-9 hours is good for children.