Is a good night’s sleep really that important? So many of us think that sleep is nothing more than a luxury. If this is your line of thought, it’s time to seriously consider why investing in a good nights sleep is important for your health.
How well do you sleep each night? How many hours are you sleeping? Do you feel like you are literally stumbling through each and every day? Do you feel like you are walking through a haze? Are you struggling to gain enjoyment from everyday activities? Do you find it hard to get out of bed each day?
If you relate to the following, then it’s likely that you are not getting enough quality sleep:
1. You feel stressed almost all of the time
Are you finding trivial things are setting you off causing you to feel more stressed than usual? Lack of sleep can make normal daily challenges more difficult to deal with. Your stress threshold becomes lower making it more difficult to remain level-headed when faced with normal everyday tasks.
2. You find it difficult to concentrate at work
When you are sleep deprived, it’s harder to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. Without a good night’s sleep, your memory will suffer and you will struggle to concentrate for any length of time. Enjoying a restful night’s sleep is crucial for brain health. A poor night’s sleep can bring on cloudy thinking and poor judgement. As a result, your memory will suffer since your brain wasn’t able to process and store information during sleep like it’s supposed to.
3. You’re overly emotional
Are you finding things that normally wouldn’t bother you are suddenly causing anxiety, sadness, or anger? Normally you can easily tackle an important work deadline, but now it seems that these normal everyday occurrences are causing you to overreact. A tired mind will store negative memories more effectively than positive memories. When chronically sleep-deprived, you may feel and act like someone who is suffering from depression or anxiety. You may also be more susceptible to depression.
4. Your relationships are suffering
Do you find yourself snapping at your partner or your kids when you’ve suffered a terrible nights sleep? Poor sleep can instigate sudden mood swings. When you are sleep deprived, you become irritable, anxious and snarky. You will be less sociable and therefore less fun to be around.
5. Your health is suffering
Poor sleep quality can mess with your immunity meaning your body is more susceptible to illness and infection. Are you getting sick more often? If you suffer from chronic sleep issues you are more likely to suffer from heart disease, heart attacks, obesity, and diabetes (just to name a few). Shift workers are also at a high risk of short-term health effects due to their erratic sleep schedules.
So what are you waiting for?
Where will you be in years time?
Will you still be suffering from sleep issues or any of the points mentioned above?
Why not take control of your health and wellness NOW and enjoy a happy, healthy future.
