Reasons Why Sleep is Important to Your Well Being

Although most people will love the notion of sleep, they do not realize how important sleep can be in their daily health and fitness efforts. In fact, after eating and drinking, perhaps the second most important daily activity that you can do in your life is definitely to get at least 6 to 8 hours of sleep every day.

However, with the hectic style of living that we experience today, most people don't appreciate the importance of sleep. Thus many people find a way to bypass their sleep as much as possible. Unfortunately, this creates a lot of problems related to their health and fitness for the reasons stated below.

Most importantly, sleep is an important recuperative process in our bodies. Sleep allows our bodies to recuperate and regenerate themselves. Studies show that most of cellular rebuilding that takes place in our bodies is done during the sleep period. Hence many different physiological and chemical processes take place while we sleep. Thus as a result we wake up energized and refreshed after a long day.

Sleep is also important in strengthening the immune system in our bodies. Studies show that the immune system in the human body gets severely suppressed after 24 hours of sleep deprivation. After 48 hours of sleeplessness, the functioning of the immune system is severely compromised. Hence it is important to make sure that you sleep at least 6 hours every day to allow your immune system to function at its maximum peak. However, physicians also recommend that you sleep every day around the same time for best results.

Another interesting statistical correlation that medical researchers have collaborated is the fact that people who sleep too much or too little are more prone to obesity compared to people who sleep an average of 6 hours a day. Statistics show that under sleepers gain extra weight much more faster than people who sleep too much. But in any case, both sides of the equation create a weight imbalance in your body.

Sleep is also closely linked with your emotional well being. Recent studies show that people who do not sleep an average of 6 to 8 hours a day are more prone to depression and anxiety attacks. Due to various hormonal balances that are regulated during our sleep, our emotional state is also refreshed like our physical being. Sleep acts somewhat like a meditation and thus you should make sure to sleep every day to create a more emotionally and physically sound body.