Sleep is an essential part of our health and wellbeing. A well-regulated sleep cycle is extremely important for our mental and physical health. It is as important as having a balanced diet and being regular with exercise. Natural sleep patterns can be disturbed because of many reasons. Sleep quality has decreased over the years due to various unhealthy habits like scrolling through the phone before going to bed. Sleep cycles are also not as healthy as they used to be in the past. Here are a few reasons why you should have a healthy sleep cycle.

Causes Weight Gain

A healthy weight is one of the most important things. It is important to have a healthy weight and a normal BMI. Not getting enough sleep may lead to unhealthy weight gain. Many pieces of research have shown that people who sleep less tend to have higher weight as compared to those who have adequate sleep. So, there is a huge link between weight gain and obesity. This weight gain can be explained by the dysregulation of certain hormones that may occur due to a disturbed sleep pattern. It has also been seen that poor sleep habits are the demotivating factor for exercise in the morning, which is also probably why it causes weight gain.

Unhealthy Eating Habits

Sleep is also a major contributing factor to having an appetite. The more sleep-deprived you are, the more you eat. This is because sleep causes fluctuations in hormones that regulate appetite. In a study conducted, participants with reduced sleep had lesser leptin and raised ghrelin. These variations in leptin and ghrelin are the possible causes of an increased appetite and explain the increased BMI witnessed with reduced sleep duration. Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for increasing appetite while leptin is responsible for suppressing appetite. So, lesser sleep may contribute to unhealthy eating habits and obesity, which could lead to further health problems.

Increases Concentration

Concentration problems are one of the major dilemmas of our day and age. Concentration is part of brain function and requires a healthy mind. Sleep is an important element of having a healthy brain function. These brain processes include cognition, productivity, performance, and most importantly, concentration. If you do not get enough sleep these processes will eventually become slow. A study conducted to assess the impact of sleep on medical interns’ productivity showed that interns made considerably more severe medical blunders when they worked repeated shifts of 24 hours or more than when they worked smaller shifts. Removing extended work shifts and decreasing the number of hours interns work every week can lessen serious medical mistakes in the ICU. This shows that sleep has a major effect on problem-solving skills and memory.

Improves physical health

Good athletic performance can be attributed to healthy sleep cycles and patterns. In many studies, it has been shown that players on the field have significantly better abilities such as more speed, play with more accuracy, and have lesser reaction time. This contributes to a general healthy mental well-being of an athlete. In women, an unhealthy sleep routine and reduced sleep duration has shown weak athletic performance.

Poor Sleep Causes Heart Disease

Heart disease and strokes are becoming extremely common in the US. This is because of the sedentary lifestyle of people, unhealthy eating habits, and most importantly, poor sleeping habits. Chronic heart diseases can be fatal and can reduce the mobility of a person. At least 6-7 hours of sleep is essential for you to be healthy and reduce your chances of having a heart condition.

Decreased Sleep Increases Risk Of Diabetes

Less sleep causes more insulin resistance. Insulin is one of the major hormones that keep our sugar metabolism in check and balance. Sleep deprivation may cause this hormone to not work properly, which results in type 2 diabetes in the long term. Poor sleep habits have been linked to having bad effects on blood sugar levels. For normal sugar levels, you should have at least 6 hours of sleep every day.

Depression Due to Sleep Deprivation

Mental health issues are on the rise. This is because we have adopted unhealthy habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Sleep dysregulation can be a major reason why you may suffer from a mental health condition like depression and anxiety. Many people with depression have complained about feeling depressed because they have a bad sleep-wake pattern. So make sure that you regulate your sleep to ensure a healthy mental state.

A Better Immune System

Having a strong immune system is extremely important. With the COVID pandemic hitting us, having a strong immunity is one of the major lessons 2020 has taught us. Studies have shown that people with a disturbed sleep cycle are more likely to contract diseases than the ones who have a healthy sleep cycle. If you are wondering why you keep catching cold or are sneezing frequently, you may need to get more sleep.

Final Thoughts

Sleep has tremendous ways of affecting our life. Sleep deprivation can be unhealthy for our minds and body. If you find it difficult to sleep, you may want to change your habits before bedtime like reducing screen time, having a more comfortable temperature to sleep for which you can use smart devices like Honeywell Home Smart Room Sensor that will automatically set the room temperature to your preference. These tips and a few others available online may help you in achieving a healthy sleep-wake pattern, which will lead to overall healthy well-being.