Do you know how important it is to sleep at least 7-9 hours a night? It’s “MUY IMPORTANTE”!
A lot of people don’t know why sleep is so important. Sleep is vital to a lot of our basic body functions. For example, most people know that if you are sleep deprived, you are not working at your optimum capacity the next day. But why is that? Well, that is because your body is repairing itself overnight from stresses that you had the day before. Also, you are giving yourself a giant “brain break” while you are sleeping.
Getting your ZZZZ’s at night is also important to take information you have learned during the day and shift it from short term memory into long term memory. This means that students especially need a good night’s sleep to retain all the information they are learning during their studies. Sleep is also vital to our immune system.
When you sleep, your body has the chance to rest and regulate cellular function that links to immune function. So, if you want the best chance to fight off the common cold or seasonal viruses like the flu, sleep is going to be very important to keep your immune system on full alert. Have stubborn weight that isn’t going anywhere no matter what you do? That might also be an indicator that you aren’t sleeping enough. An important hormone called cortisol goes through cycles while you are sleeping. If you aren’t sleeping enough, you are disrupting the cortisol levels in your body and keeping them too high to be able to drop some pounds. All in all, poor sleep can put you at risk of serious medical conditions.
Want to improve your sleep? Here are a few things you can do at home to help.
• Get up at the same time every day.
• Put the phone and laptop away at least 1 hour before bedtime. You can put your phone in night mode and it will change the color to help your eyes relax.
• Set a regular bedtime routine. (Try to keep it on the weekends too.) Try to get at least 7 hours of sleep and on weekends make sure your sleep schedule doesn’t change more than an hour difference.
• Ditch the “night cap.” Too much alcohol can cause disruptions in your sleep.
• Eat your last meal at least 3 hours before bedtime. If you are hungry at night, eat a light, healthy snack.
For more information about sleeping, please check out my video on YouTube.
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