iblog

To many of us, a long lie-in is a luxury. As a university student, I regularly get by on four or five hours of sleep a night (and sadly that has nothing to do with partying the night away.) However, I’ve decided to rethink my sleep habits having come across recent research which points to the healing powers of sleep. Getting a good night’s rest is more important than I ever imagined.

Here’s why sleep is so important.

A good night’s sleep helps you to live longer. Sleep duration has declined from an average of eight hours during the early 1990s to about seven hours today. At the same time scientists have found that blood pressure has become a growing problem in the western world. Sure, people are now consuming fatty foods as never before, but the relationship between poor sleep patterns and the increasing incidence of high blood pressure holds true even after accounting for other causal factors.

Sleep helps you look better. Well, we all know that, so why the need to elaborate? In any case, there are hundreds of creams and lotions which will help get rid of those nasty dark circles and bags under your eyes. However, researchers have found that dark circles are probably the least of your worries. People who receive insufficient sleep undergo the same changes in metabolism that humans experience as they age. So effectively, you’re making yourself look older by not getting that much-needed shut-eye.

Sleep helps build a better brain. It goes without saying that we all feel a lot more alert after a good night’s sleep. However, sleep also improves your memory and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, lack of sleep can have similar effects on the brain as an evening of light boozing. If you’ve been up for seventeen hours straight, you’re likely to be as alert as someone who has a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent.

Sleep can help you lose a few pounds. For one thing, you won’t be tempted to scoff down ice cream at 1 am. However, inadequate sleep also lowers leptin levels. This is the hormone which instructs your body to ‘feel full.’

I doubt I’ll be compromising as much on sleep next term!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.