Importance of Sleep

Before understanding the importance of sleep it's important to know the purpose of sleep for our bodies.

It is essential for survival. It refreshes us better than anything else and is needed for our daily performance.

There is a major difference between being alert partially throughout the day and being alert completely throughout the day. Certainly, if you are completely alert throughout your day your performance at work and your relationship with your family and friends will only enhance.

Knowing the importance of sleep is no different than knowing why proper diet and exercise are important.

Adequate sleep is important for our mood, alertness, problem solving, job performance, family life, metabolism, life expectancy, threat of disease, stress, and overall health and well-being.

Unfortunately, with advent of our 24/7 society adults are working more and sleeping less. For some reason it got into our lexicon that sleeping less is a sign of a strong work ethic? That is simply false.

A 2008 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, Sleep in America, found that 44% of adults working at least 30 hours a week were getting less than 7 hours of sleep on workdays.

Even worse a study from the University of Penn, School Of Medicine, in 2003 suggests that cognitive performance declines with less than 6 hours of sleep.

For example, a reason so many people dislike Mondays is because of their sleep pattern. Typically, these people sleep less during workdays and sleep more on the weekends. In fact, they tend to sleep so much on Sunday that when their normal bedtime for work rolls around, they are not as sleepy. This causes them to stay up later and get less sleep than they should for Monday. The result is a "case of the Mondays.” Not good.

If you are tired and experiencing sleepiness throughout the day, chances are good you are not getting enough sleep. It could affect your mood and hurt your performance.

Question: If people know they will feel better, perform better, and look better with a proper night of sleep, why don’t they do it?

Why hurt your mood & performance and risk your health in the name of less sleep? It’s one of those ironies of life.

For tips on how to sleep better click the link. These are simple, easy to execute tips that can improve your sleep and change your life.

If you are a frequent traveler, click this link avoiding jet lag for tips to make your travel experience more satisfying.