Eight Hours A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

One of the biggest impactors on an individual’s health is their sleep schedule. It may come as a surprise, but how much (or how little) sleep we get can contribute to a lot of health issues. In fact, it has been found in multiple studies and through extensive research over the years that getting any less than seven hours of sleep in a single night technically accounts for sleep deprivation. This is an issue that has gotten exceedingly worse over the years. In 1942, for example, less than a tenth of the global population was trying to survive running on six or less hours of sleep a night, whereas last year a staggering 50% of the global population struggled with sleep issues.

Sleep impacts our health significantly, and it does so in multiple ways. We are the only species on Earth that deliberately deprive ourselves of sleep, and it shows on our faces, through our demeanours, and in our behaviours and reactions. In terms of our health, sleeping issues can result in increasing mental instability as well as increased risk of dementia, heart disease, and some cancers. Essentially, when we do not get enough sleep our bodies tend to lose control of blood sugar.

The result is that the cells have appeared (in experiments) to respond less strongly to insulin, and they then formulate a prediabetic state of hyperglycaemia. Additionally, weight gain and immune system issues are known to be caused by instabilities in sleep, which ultimately creates an unhealthy balance in the body. While healthy eating, exercise, and a good mattress contribute to a healthier balance, what it ultimately comes down to is the hours of sleep you get in a single night.

Issues of sleep can be traced back to anything from staying up late, working extensively, and even anxiety, and companies that sell mattresses and other sleep-related products such as anti-ageing serum, as well as medical professionals, have built an industry around remedying the issue at its roots. Companies that offer up a variety of quality mattresses that are designed to give the individual the best night’s sleep, and this is still so important (and always will be) because the right mattress can make a massive difference between the amount of sleep you should be getting, and the amount of sleep you are getting.

As eight hours of sleep a night is the recommended ideal, anything more or less over an extended period of time can have various negative effects on the body, including (but not limited to) increased susceptibility to diseases that impair the memory (such as Alzheimer’s disease and forms of dementia), weight gain, and mental health. Nutrition and exercise have a definitive impact on how well we sleep, but it ultimately comes down to how practiced you are at self-discipline. Night owls, for example, tend to go to sleep later at night and as a result wake up later in the day, creating a negative sleeping pattern that invokes unhealthy behaviours (such as continuing the negative sleeping pattern).

Regardless of who you are, of what you do for a living, and of what your personal circumstances are, the fact remains that depriving your body of sleep has significantly negative impacts. We only have one body each, we should be doing everything we can to treat it as well as we can.