You should never underestimate how important it is to make sure that you get the right amount of sleep. It’s vital in ensuring that your body remains healthy and that you sustain an alert state of mind. You should prioritize making sure you have a good sleeping environment, such as an area with as little light as possible, a high quality mattress pad and a room where this is little noise disturbance.
If you do not do this then you are at risk of not getting the seven to nine hours’ sleep each night that an average adult needs. You may think that you feel alright, and that it really is not all that important if you miss out on a few hours sleep. If you only miss sleep once in a while then it may not do you much harm, although you can still be more prone to making mistakes or having an accident. If you continually miss out on sleep then you are at risk of causing greater damage to your health.
What happens if you do not get enough sleep?
If you think about it, the most obvious signs of not getting enough sleep are yawning and lack of attention. If you lose out on sleep you may even find yourself falling asleep for short periods of time during the day. These micro sleeps are often inconvenient and they can be dangerous. Imagine if you fell asleep few a few seconds while driving. You can see that the more you are deprived from getting the right amount of sleep, the more likely you are to experience lack of energy and potential problems while you are awake.
What other risks to your health are there?
You may be surprised to learn that feeling tired is not the only effect you can experience if you do not get the sleep you need. During the time you spend asleep your body’s immune system builds up cytokines, antibodies and cells to fight infection. It needs this time to create all of this protection for your body. If you do not get enough sleep, then your immune system does not have sufficient time to complete this work effectively.
This means that you can be more susceptible to colds and viruses. If the lack of sleep happens on an ongoing basis this can become a real problem, with you feeling ill a lot of the time. If you are already prone to respiratory problems then these issues with your immune system can just make them even worse.
You can see that sleep is not something you should treat as a luxury. It’s a necessity if you want to live a healthy and full life. You should never neglect your sleep because if you do you will not function as well on a daily basis. You will also risk causing problems with your health which is something you want to avoid.
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