Getting more z-z-z-z’s can be life-changing

Have you ever thought how life-changing it would be if you just added an extra hour to your sleep?
Or will it harm you if you skim off two or more hours of your precious slumber in order to stay up and watch TV?

Sleep plays an important role in our lives. From the moment we are born, sleep is vital to a child’s development. According to bed experts Sealy, sleep studies show that if a child is sleep-deprived, they may not develop and learn to their full potential and their physical health could be compromised too.

So what about adults? Surely we have reached our full development and thus require less sleep? Not so, as sleep deprivation is detrimental to your mental health. If you starve yourself of sleep, you will find it harder to concentrate the next day, your moods will be negatively affected and of course, your reaction time will be slower.

READ: Why sleep is good for your skin

In a livescience article, Dr Itzhak Fried, a professor of neurosurgery at the University of California said: “We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly, this paves the way for cognitive lapses in how we perceive and react to the world around us.”

According to health.com, sleep also helps with:

Inflammation: Which is linked to heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and premature aging. Research indicates people who get less sleep – six or fewer hours a night – have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins than those who get more;

Improved memory: During sleep you can strengthen memories or ‘practise’ skills learned while you were awake (a process called consolidation).

READ: more on how sleep is healthy on Health.com

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