The Importance of Sleep for Health and Performance
Did you know that enough sleep is essential for optimum health and well-being? But how much sleep is really enough for you?
At any given age in your life, what happens when sleeping will partially influence how you feel when awake. When you sleep, the body’s activities support your physical health and mental well-being. Children and teens require adequate sleep for optimal growth and development. Sleep affects almost every system of your body, including the heart and blood circulation, metabolism, immune, digestion, and respiratory systems.
Researchers have found a link between quality sleep and memory, judgment, mood, learning, and performance. Sleeping is essential for the body to rest, recover, and rejuvenate. Get enough sleep to maintain ideal health and avoid sleep deprivation health risks.
Why Sleep Is Important for Your Health?
Sleep supports your physical health and brain functionality in your lifetime. The quality of sleep you get every day affects your reaction to situations, thinking, work quality, learning, memory, and social relationships, among other life aspects. The points below prove why you need sufficient and quality sleep every day for your entire life.
- Sleep affects your heart and blood circulation
The body’s parasympathetic system is activated during sleep. The sleep mode is associated with low blood pressure and heart rate. The sympathetic system is activated when we are awake, leading to increased blood pressure and heart rate. Sleep deficiency or frequent wake-ups at night has been linked to an increased risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and obesity.
- Sleep and body hormones
The body produces different hormones at the various stages of our growth. Though some of these hormones have a 24-hour production pattern, others are produced when awake. For instance, the body produces cortisol, a hormone that helps us wake up and make us alert. Getting enough sleep at different ages prevents hormonal imbalance.
- Enough and quality sleep and metabolism
Different studies link insufficient quality sleep to higher ghrelin, leptin, and other hunger-stimulating hormones, insulin resistance, overeating, metabolic syndrome, and physical inactivity. This exposes you to other health risks, including being overweight, obesity, and diabetes.
- Sleep affects memory and thinking
Sufficient quality sleep boost learning and memory. If you do not sleep enough, you are setting yourself up for difficulties concentrating, remembering things, and thinking clearly. Any time you think of extending your favorite movie, job, or any other activities to late nights, remember that sleep deficiency and deprivation affect your overall performance.
Why Sleep Is Important for Fat Loss
Sleep deficiency may trigger hormonal imbalance, a risk factor for overeating and unhealthy weight gain. Sleeping less than our bodies require may not only make us consume more food but also suppress our immunity. Getting adequate and quality sleep helps you resist the urge to eat foods that increase saturated fat levels in your body. Researchers suggest that people who get less than seven hours of sleep daily can eat 300 extra calories more than those who sleep adequately.
Why is Sleep Important for Muscle Hypertrophy?
Muscle hypertrophy happens when the rate of muscle synthesis is more than muscle protein breakdown. In addition to resistance training and eating protein, muscle hypertrophy can be achieved through enough quality sleep.
Are you an athlete aiming at muscle building? Then you have to understand that poor sleep quality and inadequate sleep may reduce your muscles and weaken them. Your muscles need adequate rest to recover and grow. Sleep is fundamental for both training and overall well-being.
Sleep directly affects muscle recovery in that, the body releases insulin that plies amino acids into muscle cells for protein synthesis and storage. This promotes muscle recovery. In the rest mode, the body also tends to reduce more growth hormones. If you reduce your sleep duration, your body may become more catabolic and hinder the growth and recovery of your muscles during intensive training.
Sleep deficiency also leads to less protein production, hence, slow and improper muscle growth. Lacking enough quality sleep awakens protein degradation and impedes protein synthesis passages. This impact leads to the ultimate loss of muscle mass and hinders muscle recovery after injury or tear.
What Happens to Your Body If You Don’t Get Enough Sleep?
Quality sleep deficiency and deprivation have many adverse effects on your body, including reduced sex drive, unhealthy weight gain, and suppressed immunity. Below are the details on how lack of sleep may affect your body.
- Lacking enough quality sleep lowers the body’s immune system and makes you more prone to illnesses.
- Both undersleeping and oversleeping adversely affect your heart health and increase your risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.
- Sleep deficiency impairs your memory, reasoning, concentration, decision-making, problem-solving, alertness, and other brain functions.
Generally, lacking adequate and quality sleep exposes your body to chronic diseases such as hypertension, kidney disease, depression, heart disease, obesity, and stroke. Researchers associate sleep deficiency with a higher risk of injury and fatal mistakes among children, adults, and teens on Pi
How much sleep is needed?
The average number of sleeping hours your body needs per day varies with age. Remember, it is not only the sleep quantity that matters to your overall mental health and physical well-being but also the quality.
How much sleep is recommended for your age group? Experts give the following suggestions regarding sleep.
- 14-17 hours (naps inclusive) of sleep for newborns up to 3 months old.
- 12-16 hours for infants between 4-12 months.
- 11-14 hours for toddlers between 1-2 years.
- 10-13 hours for preschoolers between 3-5 years.
- 9-12 hours for scholars aged 6-12 years.
- 8-10 hours for teens aged 13-18 hours.
- 7 hours or more for adults between 18-60 years.
- 7-9 hours for those between 61 and 64 years.
- 7-8 hours for the aging from 64 years and above.
Poor sleep quality may manifest through restlessness, frequent waking up at night, and other sleep disorders. Develop better sleep habits depending on your age for optimal mental health and physical well-being. In case of extreme sleep disorders, seek professional advice.
