Benefits of a good night's sleep. 

Good quality sleep brings so many benefits to you that sometimes go overlooked, despite the many benefits it can bring you aside from being something almost everyone enjoys. We sleep because, it is an essential function that allows for the recharging of our mind and body, when you wake up from sleeping, you feel refreshed and alert. Having healthy sleeping habits can do wonders for your body simultaneously, having poor sleeping habits can cause so much damage to your body some, permanent depending on the severity.  

Immune system  

When your body receives the correct amount of sleep that it needs then your immune system is able to work the way it is intended to. Your immune cells are able to work to fight off anything that it needs to fight off while you are sleeping whether that be a cold, flu or any other issues. It is recommended that you sleep between 7-9 hours for your immune system to be able to properly take care of the issues that need to be tended too.  

Prevent Weight Gain 

Sleeping helps with so many different things one of those being able to prevent gaining weight, sleeping doesn’t mean that you will lose weight per se but it does mean that sleeping can help your body from putting on weight. When you don’t sleep enough, a hormone is produced called d ghrelin, this hormone increases your appetite, while simultaneously decrease the production of the hormone called leptin, which is a hormone that tells you when you are full. These two hormones obviously play a massive role in your weight gain and weight loss area, having a healthy sleeping cycle could mean that you are less likely to gain weight.  

Strengthen Your Heart 

It is still unclear as to how sleeping benefits your heart however, sleeping definitely strengthens your heart. Research has shown that disturbed sleep is associated with higher levels of a protein called C-reactive protein (CRP), this is a sign of inflammation, the process that is linked to heart and circulatory disease. Sleeping well would decrease the chances of you having heart issues, so trying to sleep the recommended amount if very important for strengthening your heart, a vital organ.  

Better Mood 

Lack of sleep affects your mood directly; you, yourself are able to both see and feel this. The other things that are listed you may not be able to directly see or may not be aware of when they happen because, they usually affect your organs or hormones that are typically visible from the outside, but the fluctuation of your mood is something that you are often aware of. Lack of sleep makes you more agitated, decreases your patience, and makes it so that you are easily annoyed or frustrated. If you sleep well, you are less likely to suffer from the negative effects that lack of sleep has on your moods and emotions.  

Increase Productivity 

If you sleep well and are well rested you will be able to concentrate better, concentrating well leads to an increase in productivity. Most people go to work or go to school or simply have tasks that need to get done, if you are unable to concentrate then you will not be as productive as you could be had you been able to concentrate properly. Lack of sleep has an effect on how well you are able to concentrate and for how long, if you sleep well, you'll be able to concentrate more therefore, you will be able to be more productive.  

Improves Memory 

Although sleep allows for your body to rest, your mind still needs to be hard at work for you to still be alive. While you sleep your mind is processing the events and memories of that day, if you don’t get a sufficient amount of sleep, you are less likely to not only remember those memories but less likely to retain those memories too. Some people who are extremely sleep deprived may make up false memories, so not only do you not remember as much if you don’t sleep well, but if you continuously sleep badly you may make up false realities because of the lack of sleep that your brain is receiving. To prevent this and to improve your memory it is important to get a sufficient amount of sleep as it can negatively affect your memory if you do not.  

Reduce stress  

Lack of sleep can cause your body to act and feel as if it is in distress, with the stress hormone cortisol being released more, the less sleep you have. Cortisol is responsible for your fight or flight reaction towards danger, if you are sleep deprived your reflexes and response time would be a lot later than they would have been if you were well-rested. Sleeping well juristically decrease your stress levels, as it is a powerful stress reducer. Having a regular sleeping routine calms your mind and body while also restoring your body.  

Reduces chances of diabetes  

According to some researchers, your body's reaction to sleep loss or to your body being sleep deprived can resemble insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. Your body needs insulin to help it with using glucose for energy however, if your body starts to become resistant to insulin then it can no longer convert the glucose in your body to energy, which will mean that you will have high levels of unused glucose in your body leading to some serious health issues. To avoid this having a good sleeping cycle where you get good quality regular sleep is vital not only for you but also for your health.  

Sleep can both positively and negatively affect some many different factors in your life and within your body, it is important and it is your job to get the best possible sleep that you can from 7-9 hours of sleep every night, to benefit from the great benefits mentioned earlier.