It is important for anyone (of any age) to treat their sleep as a priority as it can have severe consequences on your long-term health.

The time when you’re sleeping is the time for your body to repair and heal itself but over the years, the amount of sleep you miss could have an impact on your overall health.

Here are a few examples of illnesses that sleep can help to prevent:

ilnesses prevented by sleep

 

The common cold and flu

According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep may be the best prevention for a cold or flu.

Sleep deprivation is known to have negative effects on the body’s immune system, which in turn is likely to result in an increased chance in catching the common cold or influenza virus.

The vulnerability of your immune system is likely to make you more susceptible to contracting harmful viruses and bacteria, so a great nights’ sleep is a great way to decrease your chances of being affected by a cold.

 

Your immune system

The National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) conducted an experiment where the amount of white blood cells were measured before a healthy sleep and after a person was sleep deprived.

The study shown that in 15 young healthy men there was a loss of day-night rhythmicity, along with increased numbers of white blood cells (particularly at night).

White blood cells are the body’s way to naturally fight off dangerous pathogens and this fluctuation in the amount of cells gives viruses an easier way to move into the body, especially when it is stressed and weak.

Ensuring that you’re getting the recommended amount of sleep is a great way to help prevent getting a cold, so it’s well worth catching up on your extra sleep!

 

Mood disorders

Sleep is the only time when your mind is fully at rest and your body gets chance to recharge its batteries.

Being deprived of your sleep is known to decrease your overall mood and according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an inadequate amount of sleep is prone to making you more irritable and stressed.

They also mention that sufferers of chromic insomnia have an increased risk of developing a mood disorder like anxiety and depression.

In addition to this, the National Sleep Foundation also conducted a poll in 2006 which shown that 73% of 11-17 year olds that were feeling unhappy reported not getting enough sleep.

A great sleeping pattern is recommended to sufferers of depression so it’s definitely worth getting a few extra hours’ sleep to swerve your chances of experiencing the best mood possible!

 

Woman napping

 

Memory loss

According to the Healthy Sleep medical diary, there are three distinct brain processes involved in learning. These are; acquisition, consolidation and recall.

They also say that “Inadequate sleep appears to affect the brain’s ability to consolidate both factual information and procedural memories about how to do various physical tasks”.

A lack of quality sleep could help prevent memory loss as your body is receiving the necessary time it needs to consolidate information; whether it is memories, facts or events.

Sleep could help to prevent memory loss in the long-term so it’s definitely worth catching up on your missed rest.

 

One thing is for sure when it comes to sleep; you can never get enough! Take advantage of our made-to-measure mattresses and get in bed 30 minutes earlier tonight. You’ll wake up feeling more refreshed AND it’s an activity that can help to prevent future illnesses.