A deep peaceful sleep gives your heart and blood vessels a chance to rest and recover lowering your pulse and blood pressure.
According to Thomas Dekker, an American dramatist and a writer, 'sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.'
Sadly, millennials today are dealing with an epidemic of sleep disorders thanks to our super stressed out, hyper-caffeinated lifestyles.
You must understand that your body needs good sleep just like it needs air and food to survive and function well.
When you sleep, your body heals itself and restores its chemical balance.
Here are 10 benefits of a good sleep:
1. Lowers blood pressure
A deep peaceful sleep gives your heart and blood vessels a chance to rest and recover lowering your pulse and blood pressure.
2. Lowers risk of Type 2 diabetes
Lack of sleep leads to increased production of cortisol, a hormone that interferes with the functioning of insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar in your body.
When you sleep well, the insulin can do its job fine and maintain optimal blood sugars in the body.
3. Boosts metabolism
Metabolism is a chemical process that involves hormones likes cortisol, insulin, ghrelin and leptin.
A sound sleep maintains a good balance of these hormones by means of which food is rightly converted into energy and metabolism is regulated.
4. Controls weight gain
Sleep deprivation increases the production of ghrelin, a hunger hormone that increases your appetite.
On the contrary, a good night sleep elevates production of leptin, a hormone that suppresses your hunger keeping carb cravings at bay.
5. Sharpens brain
Sleep plays an important role in enhancing your brain activity.
When you sleep, your brain cells settle down from their daytime activity levels and start forming pathways between nerve cells in your brain that help you absorb, process and organise new information with better focus.
6. Strengthens immunity
When you sleep, your immune system produces cytokines, a category of small proteins that fight infections by combating foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses thereby regulating your immunity and inflammation to fight against illness.
7. Reduces risk of cardiovascular diseases
High blood pressure is the leading cause of strokes and cardiovascular conditions.
When you sleep well, your blood pressure goes down allowing the blood vessels to rest and recover keeping the heart healthy.
8. Reduces stress
When your body does not get enough sleep, it releases cortisol, a stress hormone. When you sleep well, you prevent the release of this hormone thereby reducing your stress levels.
9. Improves digestion
Sleep is interlinked with gut health. It affects the health and diversity of the important healthy bacterial world that lives in our gut improving the digestion in your body.
10. Boosts mood
Lack of sleep makes you feel agitated and irritated affecting your mood and behavior.
A good satisfactory sleep brings the whole hormone symphony in place that helps you stay calm, positive and happy through the day.
Aayushi Lakhapati is co-founder, CHRO and the chief health officer at 23BMI, a healthcare venture focusing on curing obesity and related concerns. She can be reached at ga@rediff.co.in
