The 12 benefits of a good night’s sleep

A summary of the benefits of enjoying a good night's sleep.

Sleep, besides being a great pleasure for most people, is a fundamental physiological need.

Sleep has a positive impact on our health, causing the body to initiate a whole series of biochemical processes that make us perform physically and mentally when we wake up.

On the other hand, not having a good sleep hygiene is synonymous with cognitive problems and diseases. That is why here we are going to see the main benefits of sleeping welland understand why it is a priority in our lives.

The importance of taking advantage of the hours of sleep

Many people try to make big changes in their lives, joining a gym, doing yoga and eating healthy, but forget that good sleep hygiene is almost as important, if not more important, than all of these. Getting a good night's sleep has become very rare.

According to health institutions, such as the Center for Disease Control, not getting a good night's sleep has become a very rare occurrence, not being able to sleep well has become a veritable public health epidemic.. Almost half of the population does not get enough sleep, less than 7 hours (40%).

This is not surprising. Work, family, worries of all kinds and colors make us run out of time, and when we have finished all the chores we see that we have become very late. We want to go to sleep, but instead of going to bed at a healthy hour, such as 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., we do so at 1 a.m. In addition, the next day we have to get up early, so we are not guaranteed the 6 to 8 hours of sleep recommended by experts.

Going to bed late and, on top of that, getting too little sleep has serious repercussions on our health, especially affecting our cognitive and physical health.. We cannot concentrate, affecting our academic and work performance, as well as making us more vulnerable to diseases and psychological disorders. All this contributes to the formation of a vicious circle:** the less sleep we get, the less healthy we are, and the less healthy we are, the less sleep we get**.

This is why we should prioritize the acquisition of good sleep hygiene, since it will improve our health and our mental state. Here are the main benefits of sleeping well.

The benefits of sleeping well, in brief

There are several health benefits, both physical and mental, of sleeping well, in addition to helping us in our academic, professional and social performance

1. Improves physical endurance

Related to the previous point, a restful sleep makes us regenerate at night. This translates into having better aerobic endurance upon waking up, something that is essential for anyone who practices sports.

This was confirmed by Standford University, whose studies confirmed that athletes who slept ten hours during periods of competition, such as marathons, Olympics or other sporting events, improved their times as well as their physical endurance..

2. Builds muscle mass

Every good athlete knows that he or she should sleep well not only because it improves physical endurance itself, but also because it contributes to the generation of the much desired muscle mass.

Our body uses most of the night to heal the damage that has been caused to cells and tissues.. This causes the muscle fibers put to the test during exercises such as weight lifting or body pump to recover and harden.

Not sleeping well does not allow muscle to develop and, in fact, lack of sleep is related to muscle atrophy.

3. Protects memory

Sleep heals neuronal connections. During the REM ("rapid eye movements") phase of sleep, the hippocampus, known to be, basically, a kind of memory store, is restored.. Thanks to this, our memory capacity, both in the short and long term, is improved. It allows memories to settle correctly.

On the other hand, it has been seen that not getting enough sleep causes our working memory to be significantly impaired in the short term, although getting enough rest again causes these effects to reverse.

4. Improves academic performance

Related to the previous benefit, it has been found that sleeping well is related to having better grades.. Children between the ages of 10 and 16 who suffer from respiratory problems, such as snoring or sleep apnea, are more likely to suffer from learning problems.

But this doesn't just happen to teenagers. College adults who sleep poorly have a poorer academic performance, closely related to an inadequate functioning of the hippocampus during the night.

If you want to perform well in college exams, the best thing to do is to make sure that you get all the sleep you need, organizing yourself to avoid ending up studying at night..

5. Improves attention

One of the great recommendations from the educational sector is to make sure that children get as much sleep as they should.

According to an article in the journal Pediatrics, children between the ages of 7 and 8 who sleep less than 8 hours are more likely to show attention problems, as well as being distracted and impulsive. Lack of sleep in children has been associated with a higher chance of being diagnosed with adhd (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

6. It makes us more attractive

According to a study in the British Medical Journal, people who sleep well during the night acquire a more attractive appearance, in addition to looking healthier..

On the contrary, poor sleep leads to the appearance of unwanted dark circles under the eyes, which makes us look bad and aged.

7. It makes you healthier

The immune system needs sleep to regenerate itself, which allows it to defend itself against the pathogenic action of toxins and microorganisms. In short, it makes you healthier.

In fact, research carried out by Carnegie Mellon University (USA) concluded that people who sleep less than six hours a day are three times more likely to catch coldscompared to those who do sleep between six and eight hours.

8. Avoid getting fat

Lack of sleep causes adipocytes, the fat cells, to release less leptin, the appetite-suppressing hormone.

The less sleep you get, as happens to people suffering from insomnia, in addition to a lower release of leptin, the more you lose weight, the more you lose weight.The stomach releases the counterpart: ghrelin, the appetite-inducing hormone.

Both actions cause a lack of sleep to be associated with eating more and, consequently, with a greater risk of gaining weight. In fact, lack of sleep has been associated with obesity.

9. Protects against diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a medical condition that has serious repercussions on health, increasing the likelihood of strokes, amputations, blindness and organ damage.

By not getting enough sleep, the body begins to lose its ability to control blood glucose, contributing to the risk of suffering from diabetes.contributing to diabetes. In fact, it has been seen that sleeping less than five hours increases this possibility 2.5 times more than in comparison with those who sleep the recommended amount.

10. Protects the heart

According to the European Heart Journal, people who get little or no sleep are almost three times more likely to suffer from heart problems, such as heart failure.

Insomnia has an impact on cardiovascular health by increasing blood levels of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), increasing, in turn, the risk of heart failure. (adrenaline and cortisol), in turn increasing blood pressure and heart rate. In addition, poor sleep has been linked to higher cholesterol levels, which is a major risk for cardiovascular health.

11. Protects the skin

Getting more sleep helps to have healthier skin. It has been seen that poor sleep hygiene, in addition to contributing to the aggravation of mental disorders such as depression or anxiety, negatively affects the skin.

This is especially serious if we take into account that these two psychological conditions also have an impact on both sleep hygiene and skin health.This is a vicious cycle that is getting worse and worse.

Not getting enough sleep makes the skin much more susceptible to ultraviolet rays, putting it at risk of melanoma. Considering that sunbathing is considered a treatment for depression, combined with psychotherapy, not being able to sunbathe because of unhealthy skin can aggravate the situation.

12. Reduces stress

It's no secret that less sleep puts us in a bad mood. Not getting enough sleep makes us feel more irritable, causing us to argue with our partner, family or friends over things that are, essentially, nothing. over things that are, essentially, trifles.

This has a hormonal explanation. As we sleep, the body produces melanin and serotonin, hormones that counteract the effects of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol, reducing stress.

If we do not get enough sleep, the production of anxiety hormones increases, which causes us to be in such a bad mood the next day.

Bibliographic references:

• Taheri, S., Lin, L., Austin, D., Young, T., & Mignot, E. (2004). Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS medicine, 1(3), e62. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0010062. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0010062
• Fan, M., Sun, D, Zhou, T., Heianza, Y., Lv, J., Li. L., Qi, L. (2020). Sleep patterns, genetic susceptibility, and incident cardiovascular disease: a prospective study of 385 292 UK biobank participants. European Heart Journal, 41(11), 1182-1189.
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