There’s nothing more debilitating than waking up with a terrible hangover, but it may not always stem from a night of partying. In some cases, your pounding headaches and bouts of irritability can be traced back to a night of all-too-aggravating tossing and turning.
Not sleeping deeply enough each night can have numerous negative consequences on our health and job performance. Still, perhaps the most noticeable effect is feeling emotionally and physically depleted the following day. If coping with a case of battery-draining fatigue isn’t your forte, you may want to brush up on your sleep hygiene.
Here are some personal and professional benefits of getting a good night’s sleep, as well as a few pointers on how to get started if you’re new to the realm of nighttime routines.
Table of Contents
1. How to increase deep sleep
Source: bengreenfieldfitness.com
If you’re not typically a deep sleeper or have trouble staying asleep throughout the night, you may be wondering where to begin. The first step is to take a good, hard look at your daily habits and your routine around bedtime.
Starting your morning with a hot cup of coffee is a great way to perk up quickly but may be detrimental to getting a good night’s sleep when consumed later in the day. Why? For one, caffeine is a stimulant that stays in your body for up to twelve hours. With caffeine still in your system at bedtime, it can be hard to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you can help it, avoid picking up that second iced caramel macchiato if your bedtime is in seven hours or less.
Having a consistent workout schedule can help your body and mind feel fully ready to turn off when it’s time to hit the hay, as can avoiding screen time an hour before bed. Even if your phone has an orange light filter to protect your eyes during nighttime, the light from the screen can still mess with your natural circadian rhythm.
Because the average person will sleep for about 230,000 hours in their lifetime, it’s desperately important that you make sure your bed is a comfortable place to get some zzzs. Investing in an organic mattress from Essentia will make it much easier to catch a ride into dreamland. Beyond helping you sleep deeply, a quality organic mattress is environmentally friendly, antibacterial and resistant to mold. In addition, comfortable pajamas from pajamacity.com will help you sleep better.
For those self-proclaimed insomniacs, it’s time to revamp tired sleeping habits. In no time, the benefits of deep sleep, mentioned below, will evolve from a dream to a slumber-filled reality.
2. Protect your immune system
Source: fifarma.org
Sleep gives your body the chance to recover from the stresses and physical demands of the day. Getting proper sleep aids your body in utilizing protein to create the cells that make up your immune system. Not sleeping deeply enough or failing to get enough hours of sleep each night can start to weaken your immune system, especially as time goes on.
Without proper rest, you aren’t fully allowing your body to recover from the day before. If a lack of sleep continues to happen night after night, it can put more stress on your body and mind, leading to increased inflammation. Systemic inflammation puts even more stress on your body, further weakening your immune system.
Rest assured, if you work at sleeping deeply and for long enough each night, your immune system can become more robust, giving you an advantage when cold and flu season comes around.
3. Support your muscles
Like your immune system, sleep is also your body’s prime time for muscle repair and building. If your workout routine has a heavy focus on resistance exercise or weightlifting, not getting adequate sleep could be a setback to your progress. After all, your body is working hard to repair the muscles you damaged while doing strength exercises. A restful snooze can even strengthen these muscles, all while your mind is resting. If you have extreme muscle soreness after a workout and don’t seem to be getting stronger, take a long look at your sleep habits to see if they could improve.
Strength athletes aren’t the only ones that need proper time to recover, though. People who participate in aerobic exercises like running, swimming, and biking also use their muscles during training, just at a lower intensity for a more extended period. Getting a restful night’s sleep will ensure that you aren’t sabotaging your own fitness goals and progress.
4. Wake up refreshed
Source: joinflourish.com
No amount of coffee, tea, or energy drinks can save you from the harmful effects of getting terrible quality sleep. Going to bed at the wee hours of the morning and only getting surface-level sleep has the most noticeable impact on our energy levels the next day.
That said, working to sleep more deeply each night can make long workdays and busy schedules much more bearable. Rather than coming home after a full day of tasks and immediately wanting to throw on pajamas and the latest Netflix special, you may find that you still have the energy to throw into personal hobbies, visiting friends and family, or getting household chores done. Whatever way you spin it, deeply sleeping each night can lead to substantial quality of life improvements during the day.
5. Boost your memory and focus
Source: healthline.com
If you constantly forget where you put your keys, tasks you were supposed to complete, or meetings with friends, you might not be sleeping well enough. Sleep has a significant impact on our memory and our ability to focus on tasks. Focusing and remembering are essential if you constantly take in new information or have a career that requires precision and fine attention to detail.
REM, or rapid eye movement, is a deep level of sleep that plays the most significant role in procedural memory. Procedural memory is our ability to remember how to do something, which is critically important when navigating unfamiliar tasks and information. If you’re worried about acing your exams or performing well in a role employment role, deeply sleeping is a critical part of your success.
Final takeaway
Sleep is a crucial component of maintaining your health and wellbeing. By limiting caffeine, adopting an exercise routine, limiting screen time before bed, and investing in a quality organic mattress, you’re setting yourself up for a night of deep, peaceful sleep. Getting deep sleep can help you stay safe from the common cold, help you reach your fitness goals, give you sustained energy to make it through the day, and help you retain information while studying or working. With so many positive impacts on your health, try making deep sleep a part of your nightly routine.
