13 Reasons Why Having Good Sleeping Habits Will Improve Your Health And Well-Being (3 of 3)

Decreases Inflammation

Sleep also has a significant effect on inflammation in your body. This was discovered, as poor sleep is also connected to long-term inflammation and digestive problems like inflammatory bowel disease. It may even relapse into Crohn’s disease. Those who are getting under six hours have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins compared to those getting more sleep.

And if you don’t think that sounds bad – think again. Chronic inflammation is connected to numerous illnesses such as heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and premature aging.

Sleep tip: If you struggle to relax before sleep, one suggestion is to drink chamomile tea before bedtime. While tea has caffeine in it, the levels in this one are drastically lower than in coffee and soda. Furthermore, chamomile tea has a calming effect primarily due to the antioxidant in it.

Enhances The Function of Our Brain

Sleep is actually connected to a number of functions of our brains. As mentioned above, it’s connected to our hormone productions in certain cases, but it does so much more. It affects how our brain functions, including our cognition, productivity, performance, and our concentration as well. Furthermore, sleep deprivation will negatively affect those areas too. One study that came out from a group of interns at the Harvard Work Hours Health and Safety Group found that interns that followed a traditional schedule with extended working hours of over 24 hours made over one third more serious medical errors than interns with the same schedule, but who got more sleep.

There was another study that found out that those who suffered from sleep disturbances during their midlife or older ages were more likely to develop cognitive impairments compared to those who got uninterrupted sleep.

Sleep tip: Feeling like having a snack late at night? Opt for some almonds, turkey or dairy products. These contain an ingredient called tryptophan, which is a natural calming and relaxing agent.

Provides Boosts in Mental Health

Out of those who suffer from depression, an estimated 90 percent of them complain about poor quality sleep. While improving sleep can help in boosting our mental health, the relationship between sleep and mental health is complex. Poor sleep can cause depression, with studies showing those with insomnia are ten times more likely to develop depression. But at the same time, mental illness symptoms often give you sleep problems to begin with. One study found that those getting six or less hours each night are more at risk of getting major depression, but that depression also poses a higher risk of decreased sleep.

Sleep tip: If you suspect that you have depression, don’t wait. Seek out professional help from a physician or a therapist. Discovering this early on can help you in alleviating some of the symptoms of depression as you can learn early on how you can best manage your mental health.

Improves Social Skills

While sleep doesn’t exactly boost our confidence in talking, there are studies that reveal that a lack of sleep does affect other areas of our social skills. One study from the University of Arizona found that those who didn’t get enough sleep had issues picking up on social cues and processing emotions. Specifically, the participants struggled in identifying between anger, sadness and happiness. As a result, poor sleep can affect the health of the relationships you have, as it’ll reduce your empathy and make it harder for you to regulate your emotions.

Sleep tip: Another beverage to avoid is any type of alcohol. Drinking alcohol is by far the worst decision you can make if you aim to get a good night’s sleep. While alcohol can make you feel sleepy, the chemicals in it can block out tryptophan.

Is Connected To Longer Life Expectancy

While there may not be many studies out there that say sleeping longer will make you immortal, there are lots of researches that point out that a lack of sleep boosts your risk of death. The biggest reason is as you’ve been going through this list is that a lack of sleep is a recipe for a number of diseases. These diseases – if left untended to – can diminish your longevity severally. In one study, researchers found that if you sleep under five hours, you are doubling your risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America.

Sleep tip: In order to live a better life, try to sleep similar hours across the weekdays and weekends. The sleep hour difference between each day should be no more than an hour. Staying up late or sleeping in on weekends can really mess up your sleep-wake rhythm.

While more research is being done revolving around sleep, we can say for certain one thing: there are multiple links between our lives and how we sleep. So if you are running into health or mental issues, one of the best cures is trying to get on the right track of sleeping.