Have you ever been so tired that you couldn’t think straight, or so sleepy that you couldn’t concentrate? These are signs of sleep deprivation. If you want to be at your best, both mentally and physically, it’s important to get enough sleep. Sleep helps every system in your body work properly and supports good mental health. Getting enough quality rest is essential for all ages, from babies to teenagers and even adults.
Sleep Improves Brain Health
You might not realize it, but having a poor sleep routine can affect your ability to learn and remember information. Sleep helps our brains process information we learned that day, so if you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll have trouble recalling what you learned the day before.
Getting enough sleep can help you improve your memory. Sleep helps you learn new things, remember what you learned, process information, and store information in your brain. During sleep, the brain is active as it processes all the changes that have occurred during an average day. Your memory of these events gets stronger as they are repeated when you go back to sleep.
The hippocampus is part of the brain that plays a role in learning and memory. It’s also where neuroscientists think memories are stored until they are retrieved later on. Sleeping for more than eight hours per night may lead to better memory retention. There’s more time available for memories from previous days to be consolidated into long-term memories before being reactivated during REM sleep cycles. This happens every 90 minutes throughout the night.
Sleep Aids in Concentration and Productivity
Sleep also plays a role in how much concentration and focus we have when we’re awake. These things affect how well we perform at work or in other activities where focus is necessary. So if you haven’t been getting enough shut-eye lately, chances are that your job performance has suffered because of it.
If you’re tired, you can’t concentrate as well. This means that it’s harder to stay alert and make decisions with the same level of attention when you’re sleep-deprived.
Sleep helps us remember information, which is essential for any school or work project where you have to recall facts or figures from memory later on. Sleep also gives our short-term memory a workout so that we can retain facts for longer periods of time before they fade into oblivion.
Sleep helps us make decisions about health choices like diet and exercise routines because it allows our brains to process all of the information at hand.
Sleep Supports Good Mental Health
Sleep can help with many different mental health struggles. This includes depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders.
- Depression and anxiety: Sleep deprivation has been linked to depression and other mood disorders because it affects your brain’s ability to regulate itself.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Sleeping well helps you cope with traumatic events in the past, like childhood abuse or combat experiences. Insomnia may be a symptom of PTSD rather than its cause. People who don’t sleep well may be more likely to develop PTSD after experiencing trauma than those who do get enough restful sleep every night before and after the event occurred.
- Bipolar disorder: People with bipolar disorder tend not to sleep as well compared with people without this condition. Their insomnia tends to worsen during manic episodes or depressive episodes. This can make managing symptoms difficult when they occur together. You might have trouble managing your moods overall due to a lack of quality restorative sleep at night. Anyone living with bipolar disorder who wants better control over their lives would benefit from getting more sleep at night.
Sleep Can Help Control Your Weight
Your metabolism is the process by which your body uses energy. When you don’t get enough sleep, it slows down and makes it harder for your body to burn fat. This means that when you’re sleep-deprived, even small amounts of food can lead to weight gain.
In one study published in The American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers found that women who slept less than five hours a night were more likely to be obese than those who slept seven hours or more each night. Another study conducted by the University of Chicago found that people who got less than six hours of sleep per night had an increased risk of developing diabetes compared with those who got at least seven hours per night. A third study from the Harvard School of Public Health linked a lack of sleep with heart disease.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, it could be affecting your mental and physical health. This can lead to a host of problems that can affect your daily life. From depression and anxiety to weight gain, there are many conditions that may develop if you’re not getting enough sleep at night. If you want to improve your quality of life, one of the best things you can do is make sure that you get a good night’s rest every single night. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, please reach out to us here at Acera. We want to help you become the best version of yourself. With a personalized treatment plan, we can help you create the life you want to live. You can be happy. You deserve it. Please call us at, (949) 647-4090.
Melody is a highly skilled proactive clinical administrator, with more than 17 years of experience serving the community in the behavioral health field.
Her clinical management career started in 2011 as a compliance manager and program director. In 2018, she became an executive as chief clinical officer (CCO). She is a seasoned licensed marriage & family therapist.
