Frequently, poor quality sleep leads someone to struggle with alertness during the day, which could ripple into other problems. Feeling tired has many drawbacks, including presenting a negative impact on mental and emotional well-being. Taking steps to improve “choppy” or otherwise poor sleeping patterns could lead to improvements in other areas of psychological and physical health.
The Human Body and Mind Require Some Breaks
The reasons why sleep is important commonly circle back to the concept of recovery. During the day, the human body likely performs many physical and mental tasks. A long, challenging day at work could leave someone feeling anxious and overstimulated. Physical labor taxes the muscles and ligaments. Even lifting and carrying groceries might put some stress on the body. Getting an adequate amount of rest allows the body to recharge, recover, and heal. Getting too little sleep may prevent the body from fully recovering, possibly leaving someone in a drained, worn-out state. Sometimes, people choose to “burn the candle at both ends” to achieve productivity goals.
Working well into the night and waking up as early as possible seems like a plan for the highly motivated. The strategy has its flaws, though. Not getting enough sleep could make an otherwise motivated person sluggish. The body may lose a step when tired and not only physically.
Concentration might decrease as fatigue takes over. The mix of physical and mental exhaustion could ruin productivity and put someone in harm’s way. Driving a car while exhausted and suffering from poor concentration isn’t the safest strategy.
Sleep Delivers Unexpected Benefits
Not everyone realizes that proper amounts of sleep may cut down on obesity.
Surprisingly, people who don’t sleep enough might consume more calories. Is eating reflect a way of dealing with anxiety or boredom derived from poor sleep and longer days? For some, this may be true, and there could be overarching health consequences that result. Being overweight connects to heart disease, diabetes, and other wellness issues. An additional direct benefit to heart health may exist since better sleep could potentially lower blood pressure. Improved sleep, combined with other positive lifestyle choices, might move the health and wellness needle in the right direction. Maybe now is the time to come up with a sleep schedule, one that provides the requisite number of hours. Choosing a particular time to go to bed and sticking with that schedule could lead to improvements. Does falling asleep with the television on lead to waking up in the middle of the night? Anything that creates light and sound disturbances may need to go.
Any nighttime disturbances may require addressing. Is your sleep poor? If so, then making changes to improve things seems advisable. Everything from purchasing a better mattress to ingesting less caffeine could help. Exploring paths to better sleep may be worth it from a health perspective.
Poor sleep could be a sign of a disorder
If you practice a healthier lifestyle and better sleeping habits but still find yourself suffering from daytime drowsiness, it may be a sign of a more severe medical condition such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), anemia, thyroid problems, narcolepsy, depression, restless leg syndrome, undiagnosed heart disease, or deficiencies in key nutrients. If you think that you may be suffering from one of these medical conditions you should contact your physician or local sleep clinic immediately.
And remember, you can always contact us here at The Alaska Sleep Clinic for questions or to schedule a consultation.
