Adequate sleep is a vital component of a healthy lifestyle and can benefit your heart, weight, mind, and more. Sleep makes you feel better, but its importance goes way beyond just boosting your mood. Your mind is surprisingly busy while you snooze. During sleep, you can strengthen memories or “practice” skills learned while you were awake (it’s a process called consolidation).
Too much or too little sleep is associated with a shorter lifespan, although it’s not clear if it’s a cause or effect. (Illnesses may affect sleep patterns too.)
In a 2010 study of women ages 50 to 79, more deaths occurred in women who got less than five hours or more than six and a half hours of sleep per night.
Recent studies have linked illnesses such as Alzheimer’s to a lack of sleep; Inflammation is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and premature ageing. Research indicates that people who get less sleep six or fewer hours a night have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins than those who get more.
A 2010 study found that C-reactive protein, which is associated with heart attack risk, was higher in people who got six or fewer hours of sleep a night.
Professional athletes and soccer players have, for many years, slept their way to success with afternoon sleep sessions before a big game. A Stanford University study found that college football players who tried to sleep at least 10 hours a night for seven to eight weeks improved their average sprint time and had less daytime fatigue and more stamina. The results of this study reflect previous findings seen in tennis players and swimmers.
In a recent study, college students who didn’t get enough sleep had worse grades than those who did. Children between the ages of 10 and 16 who have sleep-disordered breathing, which includes snoring, sleep apnea, and other types of interrupted breathing during sleep, are more likely to have problems with attention and learning, according to a 2010 study in the journal Sleep. This could lead to “significant functional impairment at school”.
So it’s not just what you put into your body that’s important, recovery and rest are equally vital to your general health and wellbeing.