Sleep plays an essential role in the body’s health and overall well-being. In fact, getting enough sleep can help protect people’s mental health, quality of life, physical health and safety.
While adults sleep, the body works to maintain physical health and brain function. In children and teens, sleep supports development and growth.
When someone suffers from a sleep deficiency, it increases their risks for chronic health problems, as well as impacting how well the body can work, think, react, learn and even get along with other people.
Sleep is Necessary for Healthy Brain Function
Sleep gives the body the opportunity to rest and repair. While the body sleeps, the brain works to prepare itself for the next day. The brain forms new pathways to help people learn and remember valuable information.
Sleep also improves the ability to learn and boosts cognitive problem-solving skills. Sleep also helps people pay attention, make better decisions and come up with creative solutions.
People that are sleep deficient may have difficulties solving problems, making decisions, coping with change and even controlling their behavior and emotions. Sleep deficiency is also linked to depression, risk-taking behaviors and suicide.
Children that suffer from sleep deficiencies may have difficulty getting along with their peers, feel impulsive and angry, experience mood swings, feel depressed or sad and lack motivation. They may also have trouble paying attention, which contributes to feeling stressed and lower grades.
Sleep Helps the Body’s Physical Performance
Sleep is necessary for the body to heal, repair blood vessels and the heart. Continuous sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke.
Sleep deficiency also increases the risk of someone becoming obese. This relates to sleep maintaining a healthy balance of hormones that signal the brain if you feel hungry or full, which is why when people are tired, they may feel hungrier than when they are well-rested.
Additionally, the body’s immune system needs adequate sleep to stay healthy and in tip-top shape.
Performance and Safety
Getting enough sleep helps people function better throughout the day. People that do not get enough sleep are less productive in their days, have a slower reaction time, take longer to finish tasks and make more mistakes.
Even losing one to two hours of sleep regularly per night impacts the body’s ability to function as much as not sleeping for an entire day or two.
Microsleep occurs when people are tired and either zone out driving, miss listening to a speech or lecture or have a difficult time understanding something. While the body doesn’t physically “sleep” during these moments, the brain is zoning out, which is a form of microsleep.
While people that are drowsy or tired may think they can drive, sleep deficiency decreases safe driving abilities as much as, if not more than, being drunk. Driver sleepiness is responsible for more than 100,000 car accidents annually, which results in about 1,500 fatalities.
Additionally, there are many professions where sleepiness can result in tragic accidents such as healthcare workers, lawyers, pilots, mechanics and even assembly line workers. Sleep deficiency has been the cause of catastrophic accidents, grounding of large ships, nuclear reactor meltdowns and aviation accidents.
Blue Light emitted from electronic devices before bedtime is known to contribute to sleep disorders. Blue Light works negatively on the body to alter circadian rhythms. Long ago, humans worked during daylight hours and slept when the sun went down. However, with the invention of electricity and electronic devices, people are staying awake longer hours, which is why sleep disorders have reached epidemic proportions.
If you or a loved one suffers from sleep disorders, consider trying BluTech Lenses, which can help filter and block harmful blue light rays.
Find BluTech Near You
