The 5 Important Benefits of Sleep

Did you know that lack of sleep is correlated with health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and depression? Humans spend a lot of time sleeping, so it’s important to understand why it’s crucial to our bodily functions. Sleep affects both our physical and mental health. The following are five important benefits of sleep:

1. Reduces Risk of Cancer

2. Decreases Inflammation

3. Improves Memory

4. Increases Alertness

5. Lowers Risk of Depression

These are all critical in creating and maintaining a healthy, happy lifestyle. Let’s get right into it.

1. Reduces Risk of Cancer

Sleep reduces the risk of cancer. Many of the body’s regular functions are regulated during sleep. This includes repairing DNA damage, controlling cell growth, and switching certain genes on and off. Insufficient sleep also reduces levels of melatonin which not only induces sleep, but also inhibits tumor growth. 

2. Decreases Inflammation

Sleep decreases inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s natural defense mechanism against infection. Your immune system sends white blood cells and other molecules to the site of infection. This collection of molecules are what cause inflammation. Inflammation can pose a risk to your health when it happens too frequently. People who experience sleep deprivation have more inflammatory molecules present in their bodies and are, therefore, at higher risk for developing chronic heart problems, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Sleep decreases inflammation and its associated chronic health conditions. 

3. Improves Memory

Sleep improves memory. There’s a reason you were taught to always get a good night’s rest before a big test. Sleep is a crucial time for your brain to sort through memories and strengthen the ones you want to keep. Not only is it important to sleep after learning new information, it’s also important to sleep before learning new information. Sleep actually primes your brain to effectively learn new things. Sleeping before and after learning go hand-in-hand, so it’s important to do both in order to improve your memory.

4. Increases Alertness

Sleep increases alertness. During sleep, the body restores energy to be used throughout the day. The two compounds responsible for this energy cycle are adenosine and glycogen. Glycogen levels increase during sleep and is stored in different parts of the body to be used as energy the next day. Conversely, adenosine levels accumulate throughout the day and helps induce sleep. Sleep allows you to conserve energy so you can be more alert during waking periods. 

5. Lowers Risk of Depression

Sleep lowers risk of depression. Johns Hopkins sleep researcher, Patrick H. Finan, says that insufficient sleep creates emotional imbalances that increase your chances of developing depression. Depression is also correlated with chronic sleep problems. Either can cause the other. A study conducted by Dr. Triantafillou and colleagues shows that good sleep quality has a positive effect on mood.

Many of the body’s most important processes happen during sleep. Sleep controls cell growth to reduce risk of cancer, decreases inflammation to prevent chronic health issues, primes the mind for learning and improves memory, stores glycogen to maintain alertness throughout the day, and balances emotions to lower the risk of developing depression. 

Our mission is to improve sleep quality for everyone who purchases our sleep-inducing pillows and allow them to live a healthy, happy life.