4 Reasons to Sleep Like a Baby

Sleep like a baby.  We all knows what that means but boy can it be elusive sometimes. Sleep has been on my mind this summer.

First I heard Arianna Huffington speak about it at  BlogHer with advice to “sleep your way to the top” and more in her new book Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. Her anecdotal advice was followed with scientific evidence in a Time magazine article earlier this month.

Here are four reasons you need to get at least seven hours (better if it’s eight) of sleep daily.

Brain Age

Our body cleans up the waste left behind by the work done in the brain during our waking hours while we sleep.  Without enough hours to do this, the brain can’t keep up and free radicals build up and eventually brain cells die.  Brain cells are never replaced.

This effectively ages our brain prematurely.

Disease

A chronic lack of sleep can result in weight gain and/or diabetes type 2.  It also  increases the risk for cancer, heart disease, depression and Alzheimers.

With a family history of all these diseases I don’t need to increase my chances of getting one or more.

Performance

Both your physical and mental performance is going to be better when you’re well-rested.  Without enough sleep your judgement, decision-making and creativity are all impaired.  How will you compare to a well-rested co-worker?  Not well especially if you’re not there.

Sleep-deprived employees miss more work and cost the economy billions of dollars in lost productivity.

Physically reaction times are impacted in addition to delayed recovery with too little sleep.

Sex

As a young mom I was so tired when I hit the sack the last thing on my mind was sex.  I wasn’t alone.

The AMA Journal published a study that showed men have decreased levels of testosterone (up to 15%) from lack of sleep.  Both sexes have decreased libido.  Plus we’re just cranky and who wants to get it on with Mr. or Ms. Irritable.

Ready for More Sleep?

If you’re ready to try to improve your sleep quantity and quality but don’t know where to start, I’ll be back next week with tips for improving sleep.  In the meantime, start going to bed earlier and reap the benefits. How many hours of sleep do you average a night?

Image by FotoRieth from Pixabay