We spend a third of our lives asleep. While it could seem excessive or even a waste of time, getting a lot of sleep, especially deep sleep, is fundamental. It increases your lifespan, keeps you young, helps you stay thinner and think more clearly, along with a whole host of other benefits. That’s why we at Artiem are firm proponents of The Sleep Revolution. To make sure you can reap the vitally essential benefits for your health and well-being, we’re going to show you how to improve your sleep quality. 

Even human being has a circadian rhythm, also known as a body clock, that alternates between activity and rest. Science tells us that sleep results from living things needing time to conserve and restore their energy while protecting themselves from a plethora of dangers that arise at night. Therefore, sleeping has always played a fundamental part in the survival and adaptation of human beings and other living things. No expert disputes the importance of sleep. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that an adult gets between seven and eight hours of sleep to maintain an optimal level of physical, emotional and mental health. That’s why it’s imperative to foster routines and habits that are more conducive to sleep.  

How to improve sleep quality

Sleep is a critical part of human life. A deep, restorative sleep every night will help us increase our life expectancy and be happier. Given that maintaining an adequate sleep quality is essential, here are some tips to keep up healthy habits to sleep well every night: 

• Create a nightly sleep routine. Going to bed at the same time every night will help reinforce your sleep cycle. 

• Eat well. Watching what you need is especially important at night since it’s better to not go to bed on a full stomach. You should also avoid substances like caffeine, nicotine or alcohol. 

• Get regular exercise. Working out helps us sleep better at night since it makes us tired and fall into a deep sleep. 

• Avoid using screens, whether it be watching telly, using your computer or your phone before sleeping. 

• Limit your naps. Daytime naps can alter your natural sleep pattern.  

Once you create a sleep pattern and get the recommended hours, you’ll start to notice the benefits a good night’s sleep can bring to your health and mood. 

How sleep quality impacts your daily life

Sleeping a few hours and not sleeping well can have a grave impact on your health. It leads to poor performance, mood swings, irritability, and more. Poor sleep can also affect your endocrine system, immune system and your metabolism. Plus, it can also lead to obesity, diabetes or heart failure. Poor sleep can also sometimes be a determining factor in an increased number of accidental deaths. On the other side of the coin, sleeping offers you great benefits. 
 

It activates your brain

While we may think that sleeping is a passive activity, it’s active since your brain and body keep working throughout the night. Along with restoring the energy we exerted during the day, they take time to memorise everything we learned as well. As a result, children need to sleep more hours because they absorb a lot more information than adults. There’s a saying in Spanish that translates to “lesson slept; lesson learned,” summing up sleep’s benefits to the brain correctly. 

It helps your problem-solving

If you have a great dilemma to tackle, it’s useful for you to hit the bed. That’s because sleep helps us access information that’s stored deep inside our subconscious, giving the brain a more exceptional ability to recall more knowledge than when we’re awake. The brain also gets rid of byproducts stemming from neural activity that we accumulate when awake, along with other residues such as the amyloid-beta that causes Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurological disorders.

It helps you lose weight

Not only does sleep work on your brain; it also has a noticeable effect on our bodies. One of them is that it makes us more attractive. Not only does it make our eyes clean, bright and clean but also due to the certainty that being well-rested offers us. More rest leads to less hunger and more calories burnt while exercising. People who sleep less weigh more than those that sleep at least seven hours a night and are at a higher risk of obesity. 

It boosts your efficiency and productivity

We can also see the importance of sleep in our daily output. Sleepless nights impact our judgement and decision-making ability, as well as inducing stress and impatience. That can lead to dire consequences while driving or working. Arianna Huffington, the founder of The Huffington Post and Thrive Global, as well the author of The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time had noted that she made the worst decisions of her career when she was tired. She even has a throw pillow in her bedroom that says “Sleep your way to the top.” Plus, going to the office after not sleeping enough decreases productivity and efficiency at startling levels.  

Now that you’re aware of the importance of a good night’s sleep plays into your well-being during the day, at what time will you go to bed tonight?