It's Time to Go to Bed
Sleeping is a superpower. But many people don't view it that way. In today's article, we talk about the importance of sleep and some tips to snoozing better.
Media mogul Arianna Huffington is one of the most devout champions of sleep and work-life balance. Before advocating for wellness with movements such as Thrive Global and books such as Sleep Revolution, the Huffington Post creator was a serial workaholic.
She worked without sleep day in and day out. Until finally, her health caught up with her. In 2007, after burning out of exhaustion, she woke up on her office table with a pool of blood. She had fallen asleep and banged her head.
Even as children, we've been told how important sleep is. But as adults, we've falsely put more value on sleepless nights and poor self-care. In this year and in this time, there is an abundance of evidence pointing out the importance of sleep. If anything, it makes you even more productive.
Productive? But it's 2020! Yes, we know, love. There are not many places to be, work and home have melded into one, and sleep happens at odd hours. Take it this way. Sleep is important, especially because of all the uncertainties and stressors happening around us.
According to Steven Lockley of Brigham and Women's Hospital: "Sleep may be more essential to us than food; animals will die of sleep deprivation before starvation."
Why You Should Take Sleep Seriously:
1. Sleep Debt is hard to pay. Experts say that if we don't get a good quality deep sleep, we will be in sleep debt. This means you burned out, over-fatigued, and absolutely irritable all day. But sadly, no amount of napping or shut-eye during the day will be able to repay the debt. Sleeping well at night is irreplaceable.
2. Lack of sleep affects work performance. Nothing gives a fresh and renewed energy the way sleep recharges us. No matter how much you have mastered your work, without good sleep, your performance will suffer.
3. Your body needs to rejuvenate. No amount of spa, meditation or electric shock therapy can ever replace the healing powers of sleep. Like a car running on low gas or phone with less than 10 per cent battery, your body can still run on low sleep but it will overburden you. The effects are long term and harmful. You cause unnecessary stress to your body by skipping sleep or not sleeping well. During sleep, your cells heal, your memory strengthens and your overall functions recover. Without this, you are putting yourself in harm's way with diseases and fatal heart attacks.
4. You are going to gain weight. If the reasons stated above won't encourage you to sleep then perhaps this point will. Every time you don't get good sleep, your body will look for other energy sources the next day. Without sleep, you don't have much willpower to stop yourself from grabbing junk food. Your body will crave sweets to give you (unhealthy) sugar-induced energy.
5. Finally, without good sleep, you are more susceptible to chronic diseases. It also opens a door for mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Sleep disorders are related to hypertension, low immunity, and an increase in stress hormones.
Sleeping well is a central part of your well-being. Without it, everything else that you do - exercise, dieting, juicing, meditation - all these things won't be any effective. In the pursuit of wellness, you need to perform at your best and healthiest shape. Sleep is the first key step.
