World sleep day is celebrated on 17 March 2023 and it aims to raise awareness about the importance of sleep. The event is organized every year by the world sleep day committee under the world sleep society. The world sleep day is celebrated on the Friday before the spring vernal equinox, the equinox before the March equinox. The date of world sleep day changes every year. The day aims to reduce the burden of sleep related disorders.
Sleep is a necessity and not a luxury. Lack of sleep can affect the eating habits, work, and overall health. It is important that we begin to prioritize our sleep so that we are fresh and charged for the entire day. A goodnight's sleep is important for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Let's know the importance of sleep and how can it be beneficial for our health.
1. Helps Maintain Weight
Research has proved that short sleep, sleep of less than 7 hours increases the risk of weight gain and results in higher body mass index. Less than 7 hours of sleep increases the risk of obesity by 41%. Sleep affects weight due to various factors like hormones and physical activity. Sleep deprivation increases levels of ghrelin making you feel more hungry and decreases levels of leptin responsible for making us feel full. Thus sleep-deprived individuals have a bigger appetite and tend to eat more calories.
2. Helps Improve Concentration and Productivity
Sleep is important for various aspects of brain function as well. It can affect cognition, concentration, productivity, and performance negatively. According to studies, proper sleep can improve academic performance of children, adolescents, and young adults.
Moreover, good sleep has been shown to improve problem-solving skills and enhance memory performance in both children and adults.
3. Improves Athletic Performance
According to Healthline, sleep has been an important factor in enhancing athletic performance. Adequate sleep can enhance fine motor skills, reaction time, muscular power, muscular endurance, and problem-solving skills.
Lack of sleep may increase your risk of injury and lower your motivation to exercise thus make sure to have proper hours of sleep to take your performance to next level.
4. Keeps Your Heart Healthy
According to US NIH, poor quality sleep of sleep of less duration can increase the risk of developing heart diseases. Research proves that less than 7 hours of sleep increases the risk of heart attack by 13 percent.
Short sleep may increase the risk of high blood pressure, especially in people with obstructive sleep apnea, a condition characterized by interrupted breathing during sleep. people sleeping less than 5 hours each night increase their risk of high blood pressure by 61 percent.
More than 9 hours of can increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure as well.
5. Prevents Development of Diabetes
According to PubMed Central, short sleep is associated with a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, a condition that affects the body's ability to use the hormone insulin properly. Sleep less than 5 or 6 hours can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 48% and 18%, respectively.
Sleep deprivation can also cause physiological changes like decreased insulin sensitivity, increased inflammation, and hunger hormone changes, that affect behavioral patterns like poor decision making and greater food intake.
6. Promotes Healthy Immunity
Research has shown that lack of sleep can impair immune function and people sleeping less than 5 hours were 4.5 times more likely to develop a cold compared than who slept more than 7 hours. Proper sleep improves your body’s antibody responses to influenza vaccines.
Recently, research data showed that enough sleep before and after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination may improve vaccine efficacy.
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