6 Amazing Reasons to get More Sleep.

Feeling Sleepy?

There are many reasons to sleep more, not least because you a bit rubbish when you’re tired. Many ‘Gurus’ have encouraged us to sleep less to achieve more. It seems that is a myth. To be fully creative, effective and a high achiever, you need sleep. Because sleep has amazing properties. Read below for the 6 most amazing reasons to get more sleep.

1. It makes you more attractive.

As a result, apart from looking less attractive when sleep deprived, studies have shown that you also lower your chances of finding a mate because you are less reproductively appealing.

2. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative.

Sleep is proven to be a memory aid, it helps to make new memories and to prevent forgetting. Sleep before learning refreshes our ability to make new memories and sleep after learning helps to consolidate new learning and memories. Insufficient sleep is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.

3. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings.

You are likely to eat more if you sleep less than 6 or 7 hours a night. “Short sleep will increase hunger and appetite, compromise impulse control within the brain, increase food consumption, decrease feelings of food satisfaction after eating, and prevent weight loss when dieting”

4. It wards of colds and flu.

Sleep helps to fight off infection and sickness. When you feel ill, your immune system actively stimulates your sleep system, so you can begin to ‘sleep yourself well’.

5. It lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Unhealthy sleep, unhealthy heart. Over a fourteen month period, sleeping 6 hours or less will increase your risk of cardiac arrest by 400 to 500%!

6. You will even feel happier, less anxious and less depressed.

Having not enough sleep, plays havoc with our emotions. It seems to make our emotions both more volatile and extreme. Get enough sleep and you are on a much more even keel, able to deal with any difficulties and hold it together. Not enough sleep and you find yourself crying more and being more emotional.

This information has ben taken from:

Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker.

There is a Guardian piece about Matthew Walker and the science of sleep here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep

Watch the Ted Talk for more information.