Everyone knows that they function better when they’ve gotten a good night’s sleep the day before; moreover, regular high quality sleep can have an incredible positive effect on your overall health. On the other hand, individuals who experience sleep disorders are more likely to suffer from various health issues because of their sleep problems. Here are fifteen reasons to make proper sleep a priority in your life:

1. Reduced Stress - When you are sleep deprived, your body goes into a state of high alert - meaning that your blood pressure rises and production of stress hormones like cortisol increases. Not only does high blood pressure put you at risk for a host of health problems, more stress hormones actually make it more difficult for you to fall asleep when the time comes. Furthermore, regular sleep makes it easier to cope with life’s stressful situations.
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A recent study performed at the University of Pittsburgh found that the children of parents with a history of chronic insomnia are not only more prone to insomnia and other sleep disorders themselves, but they are more likely to experience daytime fatigue, engage in substance abuse, and to suffer from depression and anxiety.
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Diabetes is a major and growing problem in this country, and like many other health problems, it is almost entirely preventable. One of the things that can help combat diabetes is regular, high quality sleep that allows your body to rest and restore itself, leading to optimal health. On the other hand, consistent sleep problems and sleep deprivation have the opposite effect.
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“So it seems to be that practice alone does not quite make perfect; it’s practice with a night of sleep that makes perfect” says Matthew Walker, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “There is this odd notion that we all have in western society that we have to stay awake all the time in order to get more done. And I think that is simply not true. In fact, I think that if you get a good night’s sleep, you will find that you can get more done than if you simply stay awake.”
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It it is a well known fact that a good night’s sleep can improve your memory; and conversely, suffering from sleep disorders can have a negative effect on your ability to learn and recall information. For instance, one sleep study of more than four hundred college students found that if they memorized a sequence of numbers immediately prior to getting a full night’s sleep, their performance was 20-30% better than those who memorized the same sequence but didn’t sleep directly afterwards. Gives a whole new perspective to the concept of cramming for exams, doesn’t it?
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“Whatever the functions of sleep are, they seem to be so important that evolution is willing to put us in that place of potential danger by losing consciousness,” said Matthew Walker, a professor at University of California, Berkeley. Despite the best efforts of many top scientists, it has proven difficult to figure out what exactly it is about sleep that makes it so essential and worth the risk, in evolutionary terms.
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We know that we eat to give our bodies energy, we drink to stay hydrated, and we procreate to continue our species. For a long time scientists believed we slept simply to rest our tired bodies, however, we are starting to understand that sleep serves a whole variety of purposes. While some reasons we need to sleep remain a mystery, we do know that sleep is an anabolic process - one that rebuilds, repairs, and restores our body’s energy supplies after a long day. As you might guess, lack of sleep due to sleep disorders or other sleep problems can have a severely negative effect on your overall health.
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