How Sleep Will Affect Your Health?

There are mainly three things which are very, very important for maintaining good health in today’s fast-paced life.

1. Diet
2. Some kind of physical exercise
3. Sleep

In this article, we will dig deep into the importance of sleep and its impact on our health.

The benefits of a good night’s sleep:

• Strengthening of your immune system
• Healthy heart and cardiovascular system
• Better mood
• Increase in productivity
• Sleep Improves Memory
• More alert

Effects of lack of sleep at night

• Can make you irritable or bad-tempered the next day
• Low learning ability and poor memory
• Tendency to have more negative emotional reactions
• Likely to develop depression, anxiety or panic disorders
• Lead to hypertension and heart diseases like stroke
• Saps your motivation levels
• You may get sick more often
• Your immune system may get weakened
• Imbalance of Leptin and Ghrelin hormones that control appetite leading to weight gain
• Feeling of tiredness

What is the ideal sleep time?

The sleep needs of an individual may vary, but for best health benefits, you should have 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

Sleeping more than 9 hours a night is not desirable and may cause more harm than good. People who sleep longer had more calcium build-up in their heart arteries and less flexible leg arteries, too.

Tips for getting a good night’s sleep:

• Maintain proper timings for going to sleep and waking up. Go to bed as well as get up at the same time every night, including on the weekends
• Ensure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and maintain a comfortable temperature
• Do not have electronic devices like TV in the bedroom
• Do not charge your mobile near your head area
• Avoid blue screens at least 2 hours before going to bed
• Do not consume large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime

Some common types of sleep disorders include:

Insomnia – Have difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night.

Sleep apnoea – Experiencing abnormal patterns in breathing, snoring, while you are asleep.

Narcolepsy – When you feel very sleepy during the day and fall asleep suddenly during the day, then it is called Narcolepsy.

Symptoms of sleep disorders

• Feeling very sleepy during the daytime and having trouble falling asleep at night.
• Falling asleep at inappropriate times like while driving.
• Breathing in an unusual pattern or feeling an uncomfortable urge to move while trying to fall asleep.
• Irregular sleep and wake cycle

Impact of Sleep Disorders on Chronic Diseases

Sleep disorders are linked to different chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression.

Diabetes

Studies have found that insufficient sleep is linked to an increased incidence of the development of type 2 diabetes. Particularly, the duration of the sleep and quality of the sleep has an impact on the HbA1c levels, which is an important marker of blood sugar control. Optimizing sleep duration and quality of sleep have been demonstrated to improve blood sugar control in persons with type 2 diabetes.

Cardiovascular Disease

People with sleep disorders are at increased risk of many cardiovascular diseases. Particularly, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeats are more common among those with disordered sleep than their peers without sleep abnormalities. Sleep apnoea and hardening of the arteries appear to share some common physiological characteristics, further suggesting that sleep apnoea may be an important predictor of cardiovascular disease.

Obesity

Less sleep duration leads to metabolic changes that may be linked to obesity. Sleep in childhood and adolescence is important for brain development. Inadequate sleep in young children adversely affects the function of the hypothalamus that regulates appetite and energy utilization.

Depression

Research has shown that depressive symptoms decrease with the effective treatment of sleep apnoea and adequate sleep is restored.

Conclusion:

When you have sound sleep you will be alert, active and healthy. So, it is vital to ensure 7-8 hours of sound sleep every night.

Further Reading

1. Knutson KL, Ryden AM, Mander VA, Van Cauter E. Role of sleep duration and quality in the risk and severity of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Arch Intern Med 2006;166:1768–1764.
2. Kasasbeh E, Chi DS, Krishnaswamy G. Inflammatory aspects of sleep apnea and their cardiovascular consequences. South Med J 2006;99:58–67.
3. Taheri S. The link between short sleep duration and obesity: We should recommend more sleep to prevent obesity. Arch Dis Child 2006;91:881–884.
4. Zimmerman M, McGlinchey JB, Young D, Chelminski I. Diagnosing major depressive disorder I: A psychometric evaluation of the DSM-IV symptom criteria. J Nerv Ment Dis 2006;194:158–163.
5. Schwartz DJ, Kohler WC, Karatinos G. Symptoms of depression in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea may be amenable to treatment with continuous positive airway pressure. Chest 2005;128:1304–1306.