Ways Poor Sleep Can Affect Your Life
We spend a good deal of our time sleeping, if you think about it. 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, equals 56 hours. When you multiply that by 52 weeks in a year, that’s nearly 3,000 hours in bed dreaming. If we are lucky that is.
There is a reason we spend so much time sleeping is that we need it to survive. Just like healthy foods are a necessity to keep our bodies running smoothly, so is an adequate amount of slumber. When we sleep our bodies perform functions that repair any damaged cells and memories are filed away in our brain.
If our body doesn’t get the rest it needs then the other areas of our life will begin to suffer. There are many reasons why we might not be getting the sleep we need. Maybe you are experiencing insomnia or sleep apnea, a disorder where the sleeper’s breath is disrupted, sometimes jolting them awake.
A bad mattress is another great disruptor of sleep. They cause us pain in many areas of our body including our hips and shoulders. When this type of pain is activated, sleep is very difficult to achieve. If you think it’s time to change your mattress then check out this review of mattresses made specifically for hip and shoulder pain by sleepbuffs.com. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to sleep once you get a decent mattress.
Less Productive
When we lack sleep our brains aren’t working to their best potential, which can directly affect our production level. No matter what profession you have chosen productivity is important. Salespeople need to close sales and teachers need to teach.
The fact is, without a great night sleep, the salesperson might miss an opportunity to close a sale or a teacher might find themselves overwhelmed with their workload. These examples apply to nearly every profession. To be successful, we need to productive but unless you get the sleep you need this will suffer greatly.
Less Alert
Our brains work nearly as much when we are sleeping as they do when we are wide awake. Some believe this is because it files memories away from the previous day’s experiences in a sort of “need-to-know” file system. If your brain doesn’t have time to reorganize for the next day then our alertness level will take a hit.
Think of it this way, when we let our desks get messy with papers we should have filed away a long time ago finding the documents you need becomes more of a chore. Your brain might work the same way. If it doesn’t have time to clean up then it slows down.
More Stress
Stress is no good. Everyone knows that. We could write an entire article on all the ways excessive stress is ruining your life but we won’t. Instead, we will tell you how a lack of sleep will cause the stress that will ruin your life.
When we aren’t getting the sleep our body produces more cortisol, the stress hormone. So we may think we are just tired when we begin ruminating over small problems but it might be the lack of sleep that is causing your excessive stress.
More Irritability
So you aren’t getting the sleep you need. That leaves your feeling less than pleasant when you head out to work in the morning. Then, down the street, another driver cuts you off and your blood boils. You throw your fists in the air and wonder why nobody knows how to drive but you.
Take the same situation with a person who has had a fulfilling night of sleep. When they are cut off they may be more likely to smile and forget about it, making a joke that folks are always in a rush to go nowhere. Of course, not everyone who gets a great night’s sleep is going to be in a good mood. But a great sleep will make you feel happier than no sleep.
More Bags
Under your eyes that is. This is just one of the ways a lack of sleep can affect our appearance. We all like to look good and want to be attractive but If you aren’t getting the sleep you need then trust us, it will show on your face.
More Blemishes
When you lack sleep the chances of getting pimples increases. This is also because of the cortisol your body produces. The excess of the hormone causes inflammations which can result in acne.
More You
A lack of sleep can lead to weight gain. It is so difficult to lose weight once you put it on so why put it on in the first place. In 2014 the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School released a study that showed children who at the same amount of calories but some were able to sleep a full 8 hours. Those participants were able to burn twice as much fat as the participants who lacked sleep.
Conclusion
Sleep is important for a myriad of reasons. We have only tapped on the surface. Still, the reasons we listed are reason enough to do what is required to get that sleep you so desperately need. Your life will be all the better for it.
