Do you know that there is a very powerful drug to keep our body healthy ? And much more important, the drug is very easy to find, and very cheap. It is sleeping. Enough sleep is one of the most important factors to keep our body healthy and fit, after eating healthy foods and exercising regularly. But what a pity that after series of tiringactivities and other matters, many people cannot sleep well 8 hours a night.
An adult human needs to sleep 8 hours a night to prevent many diseases and body weight problems, such as obesity, cancers, even heart diseases. Sleeping is the restoration time of our body, when our body repairs all minor damages caused by free radicals and infections.
These are the benefits of sleeping 8 hours a night:
1. Keeps Us Happier
Bad sleep quality has been known to increase stress, which leads to bad moods, anxiety and unhappiness. When we sleep 8 hours a night, our moods will change into better one, thus makes us happier. See also benefits of exercise for emotional health.
2. Maintains Normal Blood Pressure
Inflammations occurred in human blood vessels are linked with stroke, heart disease, diabetes, and other complications. Studies showed that people who do not get enough sleep at night have higher blood pressure than those who have enough sleep, due to non-repaired damages of blood vessels caused by inflammation.
3. Decreased Risks of Heart Attack
Sleeping less than 6 hours a night will result in higher risks of getting heart attack as much as 45%. Lack of sleep also causes high blood pressure. This is why adult people are advised to sleep at least 8 hours a night.
4. Reduces Risks of Diabetes
People who sleep less than 6 hours a night have 1,7 times bigger risks of contracting diabetes compared with those who sleep more than 6 hours. Diabetes can lead to other diseases, such as stroke, blindness, and damaged organs. See also diabetes symptoms.
5. Prevents Migraine and Other Types of Headache
People who sleep less than 8 hours a night can get migraine more easily than those who sleep 8 hours or more everyday. Bad quality sleep is linked with episodic migraine and other type of headache.
6. Healthier Brain
Sleeping less than 8 hours a night have been linked with higher risks of dementia and alzheimer in elderly people. Moreover, when we do not get enough sleep, it is difficult to concentrate and we cannot work well, thus decreasing our productivity. See also horrible effects of sleep deprivation on teenage brain.
7. Increases Immunity
People who sleep 8 hours a night have better immunity system compared to people who sleep less. Lack of sleep has been linked with proneness to viral and bacterial infections, such as colds and flu.
8. Prevents Cancers
People who sleep less than 8 hours a night or people who often work in night shifts will get disorders of their circadian cycle, and they get higher risks of intestinal and breast cancers.
A study showed that women who sleep less than 6 hours every night have 62% higher risks of getting breast cancer compared with those who sleep more than 6 hours. See also benefits of pomegranate for cancer.
Reproductive Benefits
More Benefits of Sleeping 8 Hours a Night:
9. Prevents Erectile Disfunction in Men
Lack of sleep also can influence libido and give higher risks of getting erectile dysfunction. Sleeping is known as restorative time when the body produce sexual hormones, especially testosterone in men and estrogen in women. Lack of testosterone can lead to decreased libido and erectile dysfunction. See also health benefits of goat penis.
10. Maintains Good Sex Life
Since sleeping 8 hours a night restore our sexual hormones production and helps us having good moods, it surely leads to good sex life, for both men and women.
11. Help Regulate Menstruation Cycle
Irregular menstruation can be caused by many factors. Some of them are unbalanced production of sexual hormones (FSH, LH, estrogen and progesterone) and stress (both physical and psychological stress). Since sleeping 8 hours a night can restore sexual hormone productions and eliminate stress, menstruation cycle will be more regular, thus promotes better fertility in women. See also benefits of taking estrogen after menopause better with natural estrogen.
Beauty Benefits
More Health Benefits of Sleeping 8 Hours a Night:
12. Helps Forming Body Muscles
If you are obsessed by body building and having sexy muscles, you must sleep 8 hours a night, accompanied by exercises and healthy diets. Sleeping is the time for our body to heal minor damages in the muscles and other body tissues. During sleeping, our body releases growth hormone too, including hormones to form muscles.
13. Maintains Normal Body Weight
In our body, there is a hormone called Leptin, which plays important role to make us feel full longer. When we don’t have enough sleep, leptin concentration will be decreased, thus making us feel hungry more often and eat more foods. See also health benefits of lemon ginger water for losing weight.
14. Increases Body Height in Children
Children who have enough sleep will grow taller when they become adults, compared to those who do not have enough sleep. This is caused by growth hormones that are released while sleeping, especially hormones to grow bones and muscles.
15. Maintains Healthy Skin
If you want to have healthy and beautiful skin, you should sleep 8 hours a night. Studies showed that people who sleep less than 8 hours a day show earlier skin aging. See also health benefits of xanthan gum for skin.
How to Get Good Quality Sleep
We can get benefits of sleeping 8 hours a night if we have good quality of sleep too. This can be obtained by these steps:
- Turn off the light while sleeping
- Make sure that the bed, pillows, blanket, etc. are comfortable
- Do relaxing activities (warm bath, drink relaxation tea, listen to relaxing music, reading, knitting, etc.) 1-2 hours before sleeping
- Put relaxing aromatherapy / potpourri in bedroom, such as lavender, jasmine, rose, or sandalwood.
- Try to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, this will make our body accustomed to the new routine.
Since you already know all the benefits of sleeping 8 hours a night, you can try to get enough rest and sleep from now on, to keep yourself healthy and fit.