Tuesday, 21 August 2012 08:42
8 Health Benefits of Sleep that keeps you Fit Featured
Written by Dr. Minakshi. Welukar
Sleep is as important as other lifestyle interventions to keep your body fit and healthy.
While keeping strict vigilance on healthy lifestyle interventions many times we are neglecting most vital one. A thing that we love much and make us feel fresh and rejuvenating...sleep. Yes, your list of healthy lifestyle habits is just incomplete without addition of enough good-quality sleep.
While keeping strict vigilance on healthy lifestyle interventions many times we are neglecting most vital one. A thing that we love much and make us feel fresh and rejuvenating...sleep. Yes, your list of healthy lifestyle habits is just incomplete without addition of enough good-quality sleep.Sleep that charges your mind and relegates your fatigue is vital for your health and well-being. Going beyond this sleep is good for your heart and brain. A normal person must sleep 6-7 hours at night to feel better in the morning.
A quality sleep of a good amount is necessary to recharge your body as well as mind. This boost up energy level, concentration, mood and feel you more refreshed. During sleep,body and brain restore themselves to feel fresh on awakening.
Now experts are believing the importance of good night sleep in improving body health and fitness.
1. Sleep for heart health
According to abcNews, sleeping too little or too much can harm your heart. A new study suggests that people who sleep less than six hours are having risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure. Whereas people sleeping more than eight hours can be prone to coronary artery diseases, a condition characterized by narrowing of blood vessels supplying blood and oxygen to the heart.
Study author Dr.Rohit Arora, chairman of cardiology at Chicago Medical School says,
“Based on these findings, it seems getting six to eight hours of sleep everyday probably confers the least risk of cardiovascular diseases over the long term.”
2. Sleep for reducing inflammation
According to study result published on nutritional review, people not getting enough sleep have high risk for inflammation and danger for heart diseases and stroke.
People sleeping less than six hours have noticed higher level of inflammatory markers like fibrinogen, IL-6 and C-reactive protein. All contribute to inflammation and blood vessel's changes.
Hence enough night sleep is required to regulate the inflammatory response of a body.
3. Sleep fight with cancer
Good night sleep can help to fight against cancer reported by daily mail. According to experts, sleep helps to maintain a cortisol cycle that regulates immune system and cellular activity to fight against cancer. However, poor sleep disturbs cortisol rhythm and ultimately damage body’s immune function.
Similarly, brain produces melatonin during sleep. Melatonin acts as an antioxidant and prevents DNA damage and hence avoids cancer. In women melatonin slow down estrogen production and keep breast and ovarian cancer at bay.
4. Sleep for improving memory
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center reported that good night sleep triggers changes in brain and help to improve memory. When a person learns something new the information must be solidified and improved called as “memory consolidation." Sleep plays a great role in preserving such memory.
Walker, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School says,
“When you’re asleep, it seems as though you are shifting memory to more efficient storage regions within the brain. Consequently, when you awaken, memory tasks can be performed both more quickly and accurately and with less stress and anxiety.”
5. Sleep for improving alertness
According to Medical University of South Carolina, sleep makes you more alert and clear out thinking process. We feel more fresh and energetic with good night sleep whereas feel fatigue and tired with poor sleep.
6. Sleep for losing weight
A news release from American Heart Association states that lack of sleep may increase calorie consumption and overweight. Study concludes that people with sleep deprivation consume more than 500 additional calorie per day and chronic lack of sleep risk for overweight.
Possible reason is the change in hormonal level like increase in leptin and decrease in ghrelin which can lead to overeat tendency.
7. Sleep helps to de-stress
Poor sleep increases stress while stress disturbs sleep quality. Thus vicious cycle goes on and on because stress and sleep both are interrelated. According to National Sleep Foundation, risk of developing depression is highest in people with both sleep onset and sleep maintenance problem.
Good night sleep improves your overall functioning and helps you to de-stress yourself.
8. Sleep for healthy skin
Poor quality sleep makes your skin to appear dull and tired. Furthermore, lack of sleep is one of the reasons for under eye bags and fine lines.
During sleep collengen 1 production is increases that tighten dermal and epidermal cellular junction and prevent water evaporation. Water retention in cell help to maintain skin moisture and avoid dullness reported in Los Angeles Times.
So enjoy a sound sleep at night to keep health risks away.
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