WHY DO I NEED MORE SLEEP?

Do any of us get enough sleep?  Probably not.  Life has become a constant struggle of figuring out how to find more hours to complete more tasks.  If you're anything like me, you tend to stay up later or wake up earlier to get more done; taking hours out of your sleep instead of taking them from other "fun" activities in our day.  But this could be hurting your physical and mental health.  So here are a couple reasons why you should get more sleep, and how to do so.

HOW IS LACK OF SLEEP AFFECTING YOU?

1. Reduces your reaction time and lowers your alertness.  In some cases, sleep deprivation could lower your overall alertness as much as alcohol consumption.  Drivers who were sleep deprived or under the influence of alcohol have shown the same suppressed reflexes and slowed reaction time.
2. It's making your waistline grow.  Lack of sleep can affect you in many ways.  The first is that lack of sleep can increase your craving for food, mostly those that are more tasty than nutritious.  Second, it affects your hormone levels.  Cortisol, a stress hormone, increases when lacking sleep and encourages your body to hold on to the fat it has as well as store more.
3. Makes you less manly.  This probably isn't much of an issue for the female population.  But for males, testosterone levels are reduced by a huge amount when missing out on sleep.  Testosterone is the hormone that encourages muscle growth and many other "manly" functions.
4. It's making you sick.  Lack of sleep also lowers your immune system's function and make it much harder to fight off that cold going around your work and easier to get sick.

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY SLEEP?

1. Set a regular bedtime. Your body functions in a cycle and gets into a rhythm.  Encourage this by shooting for the same bed time each night.  Getting your body on a schedule will make it more likely to fall asleep when you need it to.
2. Make your room as dark as possible.  Our body has receptors built in to notice the lowered levels of light at night and know it's time to sleep.  Any glowing lights in your bedroom at night can throw off your body's recognition of "night". If you sleep odd hours, "black out" curtains are a great investment for  your bedroom.
3. Turn off your electronics at least an hour or two before bed.  Or don't even keep electronics like televisions in your bedroom.  The bright light from screens (phones count as well) can be enough to stimulate your mind and trick your body into thinking it's not night time (or bedtime) and keep you awake.
4. Try relaxing activities before bed.  Avoid stimulating television or other exhilarating activities before bed.  Read a book or even enjoy some light stretching; activities that will relax your mind and your body.
5. Get some sunshine during the day.  If you spend a lot of your day indoors, your body will get used to the artificial lighting.   Getting some sunlight (at least 15 minutes a day) will help your body regulate melatonin levels (melatonin is the hormone that encourages your body to sleep).