5 Healthy Benefits of Getting 7 to 9 Hours of Sleep –

How much sleep can make you feel good? Sleep is important for your overall health and well-being. People spend up to one-third of their lives asleep.

Most people know that getting a good night’s sleep is important. However, only a few can complete the 7 to 9 hours of sleep requirement every night. Consistently sleeping less than 5 hours a night can impact your health negatively.

Read on to know why 7 to 9 hours of sleep is important.

Makes Your Life Longer

Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep can make your life longer.

A research entitled Sleep Duration and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies posits that people who slept for less than 6 hours every night were 12% more likely to face premature death. People who slept more than 9 hours are more at risk at 30%.

Completing at least 7 to 9 hours between the sheets can lessen your risk of death.

Helps the Immune System Function

During sleep, the immune system releases cytokines. These compounds create a protective effect on your immune system and help in fighting infection and inflammation in the body.

While the muscles relax and the blood supply increases as you sleep, your body uses this time to repair any damaged tissues and grow new ones. Important hormones are also released and your energy is restored.  While you sleep, your body releases or creates hormones, chemicals, and proteins that fight off infections and diseases.

If you are sleep deprived, these substances decrease as well, making your body more susceptible to new viruses and bacteria. Sleep deprivation also causes prolonged sickness because the body lacks the resources to fight the virus.

Without enough sleep, your body cannot produce enough cytokines to protect you from sickness.

Manages Your Appetite

Maintaining a habit of sleeping for 7 to 9 hours can manage your appetite. Sleep affects the body’s rate of energy use. When you lack sleep, your brain releases chemicals that signal hunger. This leads to craving and eating more, and gaining weight.

If you are sleep deprived, your leptin and ghrelin levels change. The leptin, which is responsible for telling the brain that the amount of fat stored in your body is sufficient, decreases. It tells the brain that there is plenty of energy stored in the body and the brain produces the feeling of fullness.

Meanwhile, ghrelin or the hormone released by the digestive system when there is little food, increases. It signals the brain to make you hungry and stimulates appetite.

Following the required number of sleep, every night maintains the level of your leptin and ghrelin to help manage your appetite.

Improves the Memory

Sleeping properly protects and improves your memory. A research conducted by Rasch and Born showed that sleeping after studying or learning can help with memory retention.

A person who is sleep-deprived may interpret events differently. Anyone who sleeps less than 7 to 9 hours tend to have impaired judgment and lose the ability to remember any previous information.

Sleeping 7 to 9 hours a day contribute to long-term memories, memory processing, and creative thinking.

Decreases Risks to Diseases

Missing a few hours of sleep every night can contribute to chronic health diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that lack of sleep is a public health problem that can increase the risk of serious health concerns such as diabetes, depression, hypertension, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

The National Health Interview Survey’s data showed that more than 30% of adults sleep less than 7 hours every night. Sleep deprivation produces chemicals and hormones in the body that increases the risk of developing stroke, heart diseases, and other diseases. According to an article published in The Guardian during an interview with Professor Francesco Cappuccio, sleeping less than six hours a night can put you at a risk of 48% increased chances of developing and dying from heart disease while a 15% increased chance of developing and dying from a stroke.

While you sleep, your body increases the production of white blood cells that are fighting diseases. White blood cells are involved in protecting your body against infectious diseases, bacteria, and viruses that threaten your health.

Getting enough quantity and quality of sleep is the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Sleeping for at least 7 to 9 hours a night can make your life longer, help your immune system, and improve your memory. It is never too late to follow this habit.