Sleep and your health are interrelated. Sleep is the time that your body repairs itself and restores chemical balance. Lack of sleep reduces proper function of your brain and body functions. Sleep-deprived people seem to be especially prone to poor judgment when it comes to assessing what lack of sleep is doing to them. We need sleep like our body needs food and nutrition.
Sleep and Your Health
Weight Gain
One of the risk factors of sleep deprivation is becoming overweight. And if we add over eating and lack of exercise, the problem is compounded. We don’t need one more cause of weight gain such as lack of sleep. We require 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night for good health.
Studies have shown that people who sleep less than six hours a day were almost 30 percent more likely to become obese. Sleep affects the levels of two hormones, leptin and ghrelin, which control feelings of hunger and fullness.
The hormone leptin tells your brain that you’ve had enough to eat. Ghrelin, on the other hand, is an appetite stimulant. Lack of sleep reduces the production of leptin and increases levels of grehlin in your body. This is a double whammy that can lead to weight gain. Also, it can possibly explain nighttime snacking; more calories in!
Sleep deprivation leads to feeling too tired to exercise so less calories out! Couple this with the fact that a lack of sleep causes increased levels of insulin. And insulin is associated with weight gain.
Brain
Sleepiness impairs our ability to learn and causes forgetfulness. We experience impaired attention, alertness, concentration, focus, and reasoning. Also we are not as reliable with problem solving. Without proper focus and concentration we are not able to learn as well. Our cognitive processes are, overall, negatively influenced when we are deprived of enough sound sleep.
While we sleep our brain forms pathways between nerve cells (neurons). In this way this helps you store new information you’ve learned. An exhausted brain is unable to perform these functions as well as it should. And now with lack of focus during the day and impaired storage of new knowledge, our learning abilities take a big hit.
Furthermore, extended sleep deprivation can lead to impulsive behaviour, anxiety and depression!
Your Heart – Sleep and Your Health
Lack of sound sleep can lead to cardiovascular disease. Sleep is needed to maintain a healthy heart and healthy blood vessels. Repair of the heart and blood vessels occurs during sleep. Also proper rest and sleep is necessary to control proper blood pressure, blood sugar and affects inflammation levels. Sleep deprivation lowers the body’s tolerance for glucose. This in turn is associated with insulin resistance.
In summary, sleep disorders and chronic sleep deprivation can lead to heart disease, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack, and heart failure. Sadly, sleeping too little at night increases the risk of early death; usually in relation to heart problems, heart attack and stroke.
Immunity and Sleep
Sleeping too little each night reduces the efficiency of your immune system. It is when to sleep that your immune system builds up defences against disease. In fact, this is the time your immune system produces antibodies and cytokines that fight foreign invaders in your body. Also, some cytokines promote good sleep, giving your body even more time to strengthen.
Diabetes and, again, heart disease are the result of long term sleep deprivation.
Hormones
More of the stress hormone, cortisol, is produced when you don’t get enough sleep. Cortisol is associated with weight gain. Lack of sleep and sleep interruption result in less growth hormone production.
Cortisol, in excessive amounts, can break down skin collagen This protein keeps skin smooth and elastic. Couple this with the fact that growth hormone acts to repair cells and tissue, the result is unhealthy skin and the appearance of aging.
Human growth hormones also, especially in children and adolescents, help the body build muscle mass, in addition to other growth functions. Therefore, a shortage of these hormones can result in loss of muscle mass.
At least 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep is required for testosterone production. Thus waking up at night could affect production of this hormone. Lack of sleep can also result in decreased libido.
Aging and Sleep
I have noticed that as the years go by, sleeping soundly seems to be more difficult. Although some nights I sleep well, other nights, and it seems more often, I wake up frequently. Furthermore, some nights it seems all I do is toss and turn. I really don’t remember too many nights of satisfactory amounts of rest.
And, as you would guess, the next day after poor or interrupted sleep, I don’t function as well. Certainly my focus and concentration are reduced and everything I do needs extra unusual effort. Then, a nasty cycle starts of daytime naps which affects my nighttime sleep. Thank goodness for biohacking to take care of these problems.
Now See This!!
Night Time Biohacking
Now that we have made a case for sufficient sleep at night, Velovita has the solution thanks to biohacking. Using natural ingredients, this product called zlēm Sleep and Slim will ensure a sound night of sleep. At the same time, you will lose weight as you sleep!! Add to that other health assets such as exercise benefits and this product would appear to be magical; but it really does work. You get all the health benefits from zlēm in addition to the new healthy you from sleeping soundly. Oh, and we have daytime biohacking as well!!
For more information on zlēm and the Biohacking Brother for the daytime Go Here!!
#yoursource