Your body needs sleep to function well, as it heals itself and restores its chemical balance during your slumber. Without enough sleep, your brain and body systems won’t function normally and may cause a number of health problems. Therefore, a lack of sleep should be prevented in order to maintain your quality of life. Herbana's Balance Madia line supports your healthy sleeping habits with Good Night, a concoction of natural herb extracts that can help you sleep well while minimizing the side effects of sleeping pills. On this week's journal, we will be explaining to you a number of reasons why sleeping is crucial to maintain your well-being. Read on!
1. Maintains a well-functioning brain
Have you ever realized that it’s harder to focus let alone remembering things when you had a sleepless night? Basically this is your brain telling you that it’s not getting enough sleep. That's why getting enough quality sleep is critical to keeping our brains functioning well.
A lack of sleep may result in slower cognitive processing, memory problems and difficulty concentrating, therefore sleep-deprived individuals may not be able to absorb information efficiently because of the inability to focus. On the other hand, research shows that getting enough sleep improves learning by consolidating our memory as well as registering our thoughts inside our minds, which is essential when learning new information.
2. Improves skin health
Well, it is true; getting your beauty sleep is not a myth. Skin cells are being repaired and replenished when you go to sleep, making you look fresher the day after and may help delay aging. Be reminded to not go to sleep too late, as every time you take an hour away from your sleep you are making your hormones out of whack and it’s going to show up on your face.
3. May help reduce your chances of getting diabetes
Some studies have shown that not getting enough sleep may lead to type 2 diabetes. Poor sleep can increase your levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger cravings, whilst lowering your body’s natural appetite suppressor, leptin. This results in craving sugary, carbohydrate heavy foods when you wake up; generally making you eat more throughout the day. It’s estimated that those who don’t get enough sleep can consume up to 300 extra calories a day and all this extra eating will affect your blood sugar levels. Sleep deprivation also causes less insulin to be released after you consume food, meaning that your blood sugar isn’t being broken down as efficiently.
4. Helps you maintain weight
While it won’t directly make you lose weight, getting enough sleep may help you keep those pounds under control by regulating the hormones that affect your appetite and reducing your cravings for high calorie foods. By adopting healthy sleeping habits, you can avoid obesity and other health complications that may occur with it.
5. Helps you to regulate mood & reduce stress
If your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it can react by producing an elevated level of cortisol (stress hormones). This can manifest into an agitated behavior. Deep and regular sleep can help prevent this and improve your ability to stay, calm, controlled and reasonable.
6. Improves your immunity
While you sleep, your immune system produces protective, infection-fighting substances like cytokines. It uses these substances to combat foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. Cytokines also help you sleep, giving your immune system more energy to defend your body against illness. Sleep deprivation prevents your immune system from building up its forces. Therefore, if you don’t get enough sleep, your body may not be able to fend off invaders. It may also take you longer to recover from illness.
7. Helps balance blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risks
A regular sleep pattern can help to lower the levels of stress and inflammation to your cardiovascular system, which in turn can reduce your chances of a stroke or heart condition. Higher blood pressure due to lack of sleep increases your chances of heart attacks and strokes, but getting plenty of restful sleep encourages a constant state of relaxation that can help reduce blood pressure and generally keep it under control.
