The path to staying happy and healthy comes in large part due to sleep. Did you know that we spend one-third of our lives in bed? Wow, that’s quite a lot of time. And getting enough quality shut-eye impacts your immune system, your heart, your blood pressure, your emotional state and so much more. Makes sense to make sure you catch your ZZZ’s at night, right?
Join me today in welcoming author and blogger Robbie Cheadle to the guest post stage. In this write-up, Robbie explains how her blog Robbie’s Inspiration came to be, as well as chatting about her new website Bake and Write. You may recall her guest post last year about the dangers of over-exercising. Welcome back, Robbie! Let’s give her our attention now:
Our sleep needs vary quite a bit. For most of us, it’s around eight hours a night. You might find that you need more and don’t feel quite right after only eight hours, which is also totally normal. Or, you may have a rare genetic mutation which means that you only need six hours a night and can function perfectly well long-term.
Most of us can cope with a few small variations. The odd late night might leave you a little tired and grumpy or have not affect at all. As long as you go back to eight hours as soon as you can, it won’t do any harm. You might also find that you have the odd catch-up. After a busy week, a few sleepless nights or a heavy workout session you might find that you sleep for over ten hours in one night. As a one-off, this is also fine. It’s just your body’s way of telling you that a little extra rest is necessary and it’s taking the chance to catch up when it can. However, if this starts happening regularly for no clear reason and you struggle to open your eyes after a solid eight hours, you should see your GP as it might be a sign of an underlying health condition.
Are you getting enough Zs? Photo from David Mao at Unsplash.
So, sleep is important, and if you are struggling to get enough, it’s a good idea to try some home remedies like CBT for insomnia, warm drinks before bed, cutting caffeine and sugar later in the day or increasing your activity levels. But, why is sleep so important? What are the real benefits of a good night’s sleep? Spoiler alert, there’s probably a lot more to it than you think. Let’s look at eight of the benefits of a good night’s sleep.
