Sleep - Who Needs It Anyway?

by John Dolan
(Boston, MA, USA)

With the busy lives that a lot of us lead, it is often tempting to consider cutting back on sleep in order to get more done during the day.

We often rationalize sleeping less, assuming that we can just drink more coffee if we're tired the next morning or that we can make up a lack of sleep another night.

Some even look to history to rationalize sleeping less, pointing out that some of the great figures of history, such as Thomas Edison, Florence Nightingale, and Napoleon, never slept for more than four hours over the course of a day.

Instead of lying around in their beds all night, they were out accomplishing great things, right?

But to think this way is flat out wrong. Scientific studies have proven, time and time again, that getting a good night's sleep is extremely important for both the physical and mental health of any individual.

In this article, we'll look at how a lack of sleep can adversely affect both mind and body.

Sleep and Memory

The link between a good night's sleep and memory retention has been known for quite some time. However, a recent project by Harvard Medical School demonstrated that sleeping might be the most important factor when it comes to memory.

There are three stages of the memory process: acquisition, consolidation, and recall. The first and last stages are performed while awake, but the Harvard study suggested the consolidation stage (in which memories are stored for future usage) only occurs while sleeping, as this is the only time in which the neural connectors are able to strengthen to the point at which consolidation can take place.

The less sleep you get, the less this process occurs, which can cause drastic effects not only for memory retention but also for motor coordination as well, as these skills are also stored during memory coordination.

Sleep and Obesity

We all generally know that sleep can affect mood and memory, but it also plays a vital role in warding off a number of health problems that are widespread is society, such as obesity and diabetes. This is because while we sleep, our brain regulates the hormones responsible for appetite.

Studies have shown that people who get less sleep have higher levels of hormones that stimulate appetite and lower levels of compounds that satiate it. This means that if someone gets less sleep, they become hungrier, and also that they eat more when they are hungry.

This is why, along with exercise and food selection, medical experts consider sleep one of the most important factors in maintaining a healthy weight.

Recent studies have also shown that the amount someone sleeps is also tied closely to how much glucose they process, so if someone gets less sleep over an extended time, they are at risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Sleeping often seems like a waste, especially when you consider how much an average lifetime is spent at bed. However, getting the right amount of sleep always pays off with a longer and healthier life.

John Dolan is a home and lifestyles specialist for BedroomFurniture.com, a part of CSN Stores. With a BA in Psychology from the University of Vermont, John currently resides in Somerville Massachusetts, where he writes home living and health articles for a number blogs and websites.

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