The health benefits of getting a sufficient amount of sleep are undeniable. Sleeping is important for everyone regardless of age and while we’re all lucky to have some time for shut-eye, we can’t always get the recommended eight hours that we need. This leads to problems such as headaches, weight gain, and even depression. Let’s look at the 6 ways your sleeping schedule affects your health.
1. You Feel Like You Might Need A Chiropractor
While it might be painful, you could be feeling pains in your neck and back because you don’t sleep well. Sleeping on your side or stomach can lead to these problems since it doesn’t support the natural curve of your neck and spine. Many people cannot stand a classic bed or mattress because it is either too hard, too flat, or just unsuitable for them. A great solution for some people is adjustable beds that can follow the curvature of the spine. Additionally, if on top of adjustability you seek comfort, a memory foam topper can help insulate your body heat and support the curve of your spine naturally. If you’re still having sleep troubles, it’s best to consult a chiropractor or doctor since they could do wonders for you.
2. You Might Want To Stay Away From Carbs
Not sleeping well can contribute to weight gain and other lifestyle-related diseases. Since less sleep leads to more stress, this puts the body in a flight or fight response producing certain hormones that accumulate fat from the waist down. Sugar cravings also increase with poor sleep meaning you’ll have your eye on sugary carbs like cookies, cakes, and other desserts. If you can’t sleep better, these foods won’t help your health stay on track. Additionally, lack of sleep leads to less exercise and more time spent in sedentary behavior; this all adds up to the “freshman 15” or other weight gain related to poor sleeping habits.
3. You Need Glasses Or Contacts
It’s not just your eyes that need sleep, but your brain as well. A lack of sleep causes the brain to lose its sharpness due to the absence of rest from normal activities such as walking and talking. This can cause a plethora of issues including blurry vision or even double vision. It has been shown that people who get less than 8 hours of sleep a night are twice as likely to be involved in a car accident. It’s best for people with poor sleeping schedules to see an optometrist regularly since problems with their eyes might be a result of the lack of sleep. The doctor may recommend eye drops or glasses if you’ve been having trouble seeing enough compared to another person who seems to have better vision at night.
4. Your Stress Is Out Of Control
Since the body naturally produces cortisol during sleep, it’s no wonder that not sleeping enough can cause stress. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol are well-known to cause problems with hunger and metabolism which can lead to weight gain or even obesity. The same hormone also affects the brain by stimulating the part of your inner organ related to emotions. By crying, showing anger, or feeling overly anxious, you could be experiencing these effects due to a lack of sleep. Because of this, you might enjoy using some aromatherapy scents like lavender before bedtime since research has shown they can help soothe anxiety and promote relaxation at nighttime, and ultimately better sleep for those with poor sleeping schedules.
5. Heart Issues
It’s well-known that your heart is a muscle and it needs to rest. When you don’t sleep, symptoms of conditions such as high blood pressure or even the early stages of cardiac arrest can develop. These symptoms often result from poor sleeping schedules that cause stress, but symptoms including chest pain have been linked to those who have some types of heart problems as a result of poor sleeping habits. To protect yourself from these symptoms, you should get regular checkups with your doctor every 6 months since they may recommend staying on an exercise plan or taking medication if needed to protect against problems with the heart.
A poor sleep schedule first affects blood pressure by increasing stress, then can lead to cardiac arrest since the heart isn’t receiving enough time in between beats to rest. On top of that, if you’re not getting adequate sleep, your immune system will suffer because it doesn’t get the full amount of recovery that’s supposed to come with sleep. This will leave room for illnesses to develop more easily since your body won’t be able to fight them off as quickly if needed. By getting enough hours of sleep every night, you’ll ensure your body gets the time it needs to rest and avoid heart and other health issues.
6. Mood Swings
While this might be stranger than fiction for some people, those who don’t sleep well every night may experience mood swings as a result. This is due to the aforementioned stress and anxiety that result from a lack of adequate rest. When you’re tired, your brain doesn’t function as it should since its sharpness and memory skills decrease at night. As we’ve previously mentioned; we all need sleep for our brains to function properly, which means getting enough shut-eye can help improve memory and make learning new things easier, according to recent studies.
Improve Your Sleep Schedule
The most obvious thing you can do to improve your sleeping schedule is to make sure you get plenty of sleep every day. With the standard being 8 hours a night, some things can affect your ability to get enough daily rest including work, school, family responsibilities, and more. By setting aside time at night for routines such as meditating or exercising before bedtime, you’ll be able to sleep better over time since these activities promote relaxation and stress relief. If that doesn’t help with your problem then it might be necessary for you to talk with a doctor about an insomnia treatment plan which will have you sleeping longer in no time at all!
On top of poor concentration and memory skill loss, waking up in the morning or staying awake during the day might cause irritability since this is obviously against our biological circadian rhythm (or body clock). The best way to combat irritability caused by these symptoms is to get enough sleep each night.