The importance of sleep and steps you can take to increase the quality of your shut eye
It can sometimes be conflicting for people when they are told how important it is to get a good night’s sleep but are also living in a society where being busy is glorified. If you are someone who works for a company, the chances are that you are rewarded if you put in extra hours without complaining. Furthermore, most people who already work full-time jobs also have side hustles and most mums are now working while taking care of their children.
Essentially, science is revealing more and more important information in relation to sleep and yet most people live the type of lifestyle where getting good quality shut eye is just not possible. While this may be the case, it is still important that people educate themselves on the types of things that might be impacting their sleep so that they are able to counterbalance this with natural therapies such as sauna usage. And so, this post will look at the importance of sleep and steps you can take to increase the quality of your shut eye.
Some surprising things that impacted due to lack of sleep or poor quality rest
As most adults around the globe will know all too well, there are some things that are impacted when they do not get a good night’s rest. People might feel groggy, cranky and might not be able to concentrate on things throughout the day. But for some curious people, they want to dive into this further and really understand what is going on in the body when we sleep (and don’t sleep) and want to gain insight to how serious the implications are.
For instance, Dr Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology, focuses a lot of his research on the topic of sleep. He has even released a best selling book called “Why We Sleep” and through his investigations, he has found that lack of sleep can decrease learning capacity, can amplify the body’s fight-or-flight response, may increase the risk of cancer, can decrease testosterone levels, can increase sickness rates, and can even increase loneliness. Dr Walker also cites many interesting studies that have found that daylight savings may actually increase things such as car accidents, strokes, workplace injuries, suicide rates in men, and perhaps even heart attacks. As it can be seen, shifting one’s body clock and depriving oneself of even just an hour of sleep is something that should be taken very seriously.
Things that can be done to get a better night’s rest and to reduce the impact of sleep loss
Aside from signing a petition to ban daylight savings, there isn’t much that people can do to stop this. What people can do, however, is focus on what they can control so that they can work towards a better night’s rest as well as reduce the impact of sleep loss. For instance, athletes may find that it is hard for them to rest after a high-intensity workout and so are able to implement something such as cryotherapy in order to experience a quieter and less disturbed sleep.
For others who are experiencing insomnia, they might like to go the other way and implement regular sauna usage in their life so that they are able to calm the mind and put themselves in a relaxed state before bed. Whatever it is that people decide to implement, the chances are that they will improve their overall wellness with education (such as reading Dr Walker’s research) and a holistic approach.
