How Sleeping Improves Your Health

Sleeping Is Important! Your body takes time to heal so that it can operate correctly. The most important time for your body to heal is while you sleep. The old story of having a good eight hours of sleep a night holds up, particularly when you remember sleep deprivation’s negative side effects.[1] 

How long are you going to sleep? 

One in three Americans suffers from a lack of sleep, according to a study commissioned by the CDC.[2] The amount of sleep required for the proper functioning of your body varies based on age. A list of the average number of hours people can spend sleeping has been given by the Sleep Foundation.[3]

• On average, newborns and children aged zero to three months should sleep between 14 and 17 hours each day. 
• Babies aged around four to eleven months should sleep 12 to 15 hours each day. 
• Toddlers aged between one and two years can rest for 11 to 14 hours per day. 
• Kindergarten kids between the ages of three and five can get 10 to 13 hours of sleep each day. 
• Kids between the ages of six and thirteen can sleep 9 to 11 hours per day. 
• Teens aged 14 and 17 years of age can sleep 8-10 hours a day. 
• Adolescents 18 to 25 years of age expect about 7 to 9 hours of sleep. 
• Grown-ups 26 to 64 years of age can sleep every day for 7 to 9 hours. 
• Older people over 65 years of age need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day.

How lack of sleep impacts your wellbeing 

Lack of sleep can in many ways affect the body. Your body uses this moment while you sleep to cleanse itself from toxic chemicals that collect through the day. Deprivation of sleep will decrease the ability to concentrate on tasks and process information. You may get a sense of overall tiredness and lack of motivation. 

You are at risk of contracting health illnesses if you are chronically deprived of sleep or have an erratic sleeping routine. High blood pressure, cardiac attacks, strokes, diabetes, and obesity could result from frequent sleep deprivation.[4] 

How to set up a healthy routine for sleep

Our bodies generate melatonin naturally. Melatonin is a sleep-encouraging chemical. Melatonin synthesis declines with age. This will lead you to become a light sleeper and wake up during the night more frequently. Still, if after a good night’s sleep, you want to feel refreshed, you’ll need to change your lifestyle and behaviors. 

Here are a few tips about how to build a healthy routine for sleep: 

• Try going to bed and waking up at about the same time. This would build a healthy sleep pattern for your body and increase your sleep quality. 

• Sleep in a dark room, and before bed, avoid computer screens. Our bodies are conditioned normally to sleep at night. Your body would think it’s not time to sleep yet if you keep the lights on in your bed. It’s also not safe to fall asleep while watching a movie or TV show on your screen. The light from the computer screen will disturb your body’s output of melatonin and cause you to have a poor quality of sleep.

• If you are tired, go to bed. When you do not feel like resting, it is better to partake in those tasks that do not include your phone or device. On the other side, turn off your laptop and do not look for your phone if you feel exhausted. 

• Track the periods of your sleep. Use a diary where you can actually write down specifics about where and how long you sleep. But there are also applications available to help you chart your sleep cycles if this sounds like too much hassle for you. Many of these applications include additional functionality to help you fall asleep, and may play soothing music or noises. Some applications also have a guided meditation workout software that helps calm the body and prepare it for the sleep of a good night.

• Try sleeping aids that are herbal. Many foods and beverages produce or improve the development of melatonin in the body. Having a cup of warm chamomile tea before going to bed is the best thing you can try. To stimulate melatonin development, you can also try eating fresh kiwi or drinking sour cherry juice. Not only are these foods ideal for enhancing your sleep consistency, but they also have lots of vitamins and minerals that can keep you healthy. Through carrying out fast online research, you will quickly find a list of natural sleeping aids. It’s just a matter of trying them out after that and choosing the one that fits well for you.

1. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/10-results-sleep-loss#1 

2. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html 

3. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times 4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5550667/