7 Big Things We Learned About Sleep In The Past Decade

Even the most health conscious among us can forget how crucial sleep is to staying healthy. Without quality sleep, your mental as well as physical health can be seriously impacted. Chronic sleep deficiency has been linked to a variety of serious medical problems, and that risk can be entirely eliminated simply by ensuring you get enough sleep.

The pace and amount of research into how sleep interacts with good health has increased in recent years. Medical professionals now have a number of concrete results they have verified about how sleep and health are linked.

During sleep, the brain doesn’t shut down. It actually ramps its activity levels up considerably. During sleep, the brain is processing the day’s information. Without sleep, memory and general cognitive function are worse. Biochemistry activities take place during sleep; clearing away toxins that accumulate during wakefulness. If they’re not dealt with, these toxins can degrade the neurons.

Chronically fatigued patients are prone to higher risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart disease and high blood pressure. They’re more likely to have dietary problems as well, which leads to diabetes and other weight-related medical issues. Some studies have even found links between sleep deprivation and some kinds of cancer. And being sleep deprived has been shown to hamper the ability to exercise good decision making and judgement.