“Nature cannot be cheated’ is a popular saying when we discuss sleep, especially when it lacks consistency. Good quality sleep has often been tied to living healthy just like eating good food. For several reasons, we often deprive ourselves of sleep. Yet, our body has been structured in such a way that our brain knows when the sun rises and when it sets.
Have you ever wondered why you feel sleepy once it is nighttime and become wide-eyed once it is sunrise? The circadian rhythm is said to be responsible for this. Your body knows to release melatonin once nighttime begins to approach. This substance makes you feel tired and sleepy at night, thereby functioning as your body’s internal clock.
Sleep deprivation manifests in a lot of ways. Some of these symptoms include:
- Forgetfulness
- Fatigue
- Clumsiness
- Lack of motivation
- Fogginess
- Increase in appetite for carbohydrate food and
- Constant yawning.
While the required hours of sleep for children ranges between eight to 14 hours, for most adults, an average of seven hours of sleep is needed. However, the hours spent sleeping is not enough to guarantee quality sleep.
You need to get appropriate hours of sleep consistently so that you can feel well-rested. A regular sleep schedule is very essential to your functionality and well-being. Below are some of the benefits of a consistent sleep schedule.
6 Benefits of a Consistent Sleep Schedule
1. Increase in Productivity
Consistently getting enough sleep ensures you are well-rested and energized for the next day. Experts have also asserted that sleep is an important factor that regulates how the brain works. Your inability to sleep means your cognition, concentration, performance and productivity may be negatively affected. The more consistently you get enough sleep, the more you maximize your problem-solving skills and improve your memory.
2. Quality sleep Might Aid Weight Loss
Obesity has often been linked to sleep deprivation. Factors such as the hormone and motivation for exercise are believed to mediate the impact of sleep and weight gain. If you’re looking to shed weight or avoid an increase in your weight, then you need a consistent sleep schedule. Similarly, people who get quality good sleep tend to consume fewer calories.
This, in turn, helps you stay healthy and also avoid weight gain which often accompanies the consumption of calories. When you fail to sleep well enough, your body tends to produce more ghrelin than leptin. While ghrelin stimulates your appetite, leptin suppresses your appetite. Avoiding short-timed sleep can help you avoid weight gain[1].
3. Poses Danger to Your Health
Many ailments have been connected to the lack of sleep. Health conditions like sleep apnea and other respiratory diseases are linked to sleep deprivation. Diabetes 2 and stroke have also been stated by experts to be tied to sleep deprivation. Thus, sleeping adequately protects your body from harmful diseases and conditions.
4. Sleep Deprivation Can Lead to Depression
When you fail to sleep at night, you are liable to start thinking about a lot of things. Many of these thoughts are often depressing. Many people who suffer from depression are also sleep deprived.
This has also been associated with suicidal intentions. When people suffer sleep deprivation, they may become depressed and attempt to take their own lives. Good quality sleep ensures the mind is well-rested and agile enough to combat depressing thoughts.
5. Enhance Your Immune System
Quality sleep is also stated to greatly improve the body’s immunity. Some studies have shown that an adequate sleep schedule can help fight the common cold and help improve our immune system. Once your immune system is weakened, you stand a chance of falling victim to other ailments and diseases. So, enhance your immunity by consistently getting good sleep.
6. Don’t Be Socially Awkward!
Many people who are sleep deprived tend to be grumpy during the day. This makes it hard for them to interact socially with others. Lack of a consistent sleep schedule could make you fail to notice essential cues in your interactions with people.
People’s emotional expressions are often worn on their faces. As such, sleep deprivation may also impair your ability to process emotional pieces of information.
Conclusion
The lack of a consistent sleep schedule can be detrimental to your general well-being. Therefore, you need to develop and maintain a consistent sleep schedule. To do this, you need to listen to your body’s internal clock. You should also find what sleeping stride works best for you. People’s ideal sleep schedules differ.
As such, finding what works best for you and sticking to it is essential. In addition, you must decide what time you want to go to bed. If, for instance, you decide to sleep by 9 pm and wake by 4 am, you need to finish all preparations for bed- brushing of your teeth, taking a shower etc- before that time. You may even set reminders for your sleep schedule until you get used to it.