Benefits of Sleep

The benefits of sleep are as important as those of eating, breathing and drinking...if you don't sleep, you will die sooner than with sleep. There are many positive benefits of sleep that most folks are not aware of...including weight loss, memory, concentration, reduced stress, improved immunity.

Benefits of Sleep: Weight Loss

Let's start here because you this is less obvious...one of the benefits of sleep helps your body produce a hormone that suppresses hunger...

...which will help you either lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Without the quality sleep time, the body produces more of the hormone that makes you feel hungry...so if you don't sleep well, your weight loss efforts will be hampered.

Benefits of Sleep: Improved Memory

Hey! I have to cram for the test tomorrow and I have not studied at all!!! Time for an "all-night" cram session. So, you stay up all night...drink loads of coffee and attempt to cram all the information into your head.

Then you oversleep for the test, because you fell asleep on your books...show up late, and can't remember how to spell your name let alone anything you tried to cram into your head...you bomb the test...

...ok so if you would have spent a few hours cramming and the rest of your available time sleeping, would you have performed better? Probably not, you
should study a little bit at a time, not try to cram it all into your head in one night!

But, if I were in this situation, I would rather just sleep well and take the bad grade...the point is that improved memory recall is a benefit of sleep.

Benefits of Sleep: Concentration

We have all gone through this one...it's after lunch, and you have a dull meeting or a boring report to get through...and you just can't focus...you were fine in the morning (after your second cup of coffee!) and now all you want to do is take a nap...

...so you go grab a soda and some cookies...maybe the sugar will wake you up...

One of the benefits of sleep is an increased ability to concentrate and focus on what your are doing.

Benefits of Sleep: Reduced Stress

Have you ever noticed that when you are tired your tolerance for minor annoyances shrinks to NIL? I have...this affect is doubled if you are sleepy and
hungry and the same time...

...when someone asks you what time it is and you become GRUMPY and scream..."What do I look like...a &#^$ clock?"...

When you are rested and have plenty of sleep...you are happy to answer easy questions...when you are tired, you just can't handle it...you body is working overtime just to keep your blood flowing and lungs sucking air...

...you can't be bothered by much anything else without feeling irritated...which builds up as stress...

Sure, even after you start getting plenty of quality sleep those stress inducing situations will still be there...but now you will be ready to face them with a smile (or at least a few less curse words). :-)

Benefits of Sleep: Improved Immunity

Your sleep time is your body's time to heal and rejuvenate...it also has time to build up a healthy level of white blood cells to shore up your immune system.

I will keep saying this, I haven't taken a sick day from work for several years...I get plenty of sleep...hmmm, perhaps there is a connection?

Benefits of Sleep: Sum it up...

Check out this teaser paragraph that I found here...for more information on the benefits of sleep:

"Many people are surprised to learn that researchers have discovered a single treatment that improves memory, increases people's ability to concentrate,
strengthens the immune system, and decreases people's risk of being killed in accidents. Sound to be good to be true? It gets even better. The treatment
is completely free, even for people who have no health insurance. It also has no side effects. Finally, most people consider the treatment highly enjoyable. Would you try it?"

...you already know the answer NEO...it's the question...

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