Why sleep is essential for health？
Healthy people need enough sleep. Sleep, like diet and exercise, may prevent heart disease and depression. Doctors say proper sleep is beneficial.
1. Memory and functionality improvements
Research suggests sleep issues may impair memory processing. Sleep disorders affect work, school, and other performance. Concentration, emotional reactivity, decision-making, risk-taking, and judgment.
Sleep disturbance influences stress hormones and cognition.
2. Prevent obesity
Short sleep may cause obesity. Many studies relate obesity to poor sleep. Sleeping less than seven hours every night increases BMI and obesity risk, according to a 2018 study. Sleep deprivation increases gherlin, sodium retention, and inflammation. They also found that sleep deprivation can reduce motivation to exercise and live healthily.
3. Diet
Sleeping well reduces calorie intake and weight gain. Obese people who slept longer burned fewer calories in a 2022 clinical trial. Adults slept 1.2 hours more and ate 270 less calories than the control group. Healthy sleep duration was thought to prevent obesity and weight loss.
4. Athletic development
Athletes may sleep more than grownups. Sleep repairs athletes. Other advantages: Endurance, vigor, precision, reactivity, velocity, and mental performance.
5. Reduce cardiovascular risk
Hypertension raises cardiovascular risk. To control blood pressure, the CDC recommends sleep. Sleeping well lowers the chances of apnea and heart disease.
6. Increased emotional and social intelligence
Sleep affects emotional and social intelligence. Sleep deprivation impairs emotional reading. Higher-quality sleepers said they were better at socializing, establishing relationships, feeling cheerful, and managing urges.
7. Preventing depression
Sleep and mental health are well-studied. A 2016 meta-analysis found insomnia significantly increases depression risk. The review reveals sleep restriction may impair cognition and raise depression risk. Insomnia affects mood, cognitive function, and depression.
8. Reduce edema
Anti-inflammatory sleep. Sleep irregularity increased inflammation in women in a 2019 study. The study found that irregular sleep schedules can affect the body's inflammatory control during sleep.
9. Improved immunity
Sleep rejuvenates. Immunity is involved. Deep sleep may boost immunity and healing.
資料來源：Jenna Fletcher (2023), “Why sleep is essential for health”. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325353.