7 Ways Sleep Protects Your Health

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American culture has learned to spurn sleep. We see it as a weakness, an obstacle in the way of our productivity. We put in long hours at work attempting to get ahead, long hours attending to our many obligations, and whatever is left over is spent in an attempt to decompress from the stress of the day.

But what if I told you that sleep is a generator of productivity? It’s the oil in your engine, touching and lubricating every component in your life from your social skills to your cognitive abilities. Without the proper amount of sleep, we cease to function at our best, and our 8 hour workday suddenly has the productivity of a 4 hour workday.

The average adult needs between 7.5 and 8 hours of sleep a night. Many of us feel that we can get by with less, but for most people, this is an illusion—the less sleep you get, the less aware you become of your sleep-related impairment. You feel as if you’ve adapted, but no—testing has proven that obtaining less than the optimal amount of sleep results in an array of performance-reducing symptoms. Those who are well-rested are healthier, happier, and perform better at both physical and mental tasks.

If you’re not quite convinced, let’s look at just 7 of the ways sleep protects your health.

Sleep Alleviates Inflammation

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According to ScienceDaily, the loss of even one night's sleep “can prompt one’s immune system to turn against healthy tissues and organs.” This was determined by measuring the levels of inflammation markers in the blood of test subjects subjected to sleep deprivation and comparing them to levels found in well-slept individuals. As predicted, those deprived of sleep had far more markers of inflammation.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to damage—it puts your cells on red alert—but over the long term, it can lead to myriad health problems, and can damage the heart, brain, and other organs. We don’t currently understand everything that chronic inflammation does to the body, but research is beginning to indicate that it could be a factor in everything from cancer to heart disease to diabetes to depression. Our bodies are simply not able to cope with constant high-level immune activity.

Getting enough sleep, and making sure that sleep is of sufficient quality is vital to stopping your body from becoming self-destructive.

Sleep Protects Your Brain

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Sleep deprivation causes brain damage. This sounds dramatic, but unfortunately for many of us, it's a statement backed by research. A study published in ScienceDaily shows that a certain type of molecule that is found in the blood after brain damage is also found after sleep deprivation. The study states that "a lack of sleep might be conducive to neurodegenerative processes."

Sleep also protects the brain from a host of other performance-lowering conditions. Without sufficient rest, memory is impaired. Research suggests that the nerve connections between neurons which create memories are reinforced during sleep. Learning, cognitive function, attention span, and reaction time also take huge performance hits when you’re not sufficiently rested—thinking slows and learning becomes much more laborious, making simple tasks, like driving, all the more dangerous.

Over the long term, sleep deprivation creates changes in the brain similar to those suffered by people with psychiatric disorders, severely impairing judgment—even to the point of losing the ability to tell when you’re no longer functioning well.

Sleep protects your brain, and you, so consider reevaluating your schedule to fit in those extra few hours of shut-eye.

Sleep Protects Your Appearance

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As we all know, a lack of sleep changes our face—but the cosmetic changes don’t end there. Over time, the physical stress caused by a lack of sleep breaks down collagen in the skin, causing it to look dryer and older as it loses its flexibility. Our production of human growth hormone also decreases with a lack of sleep, causing thinning and weakening of the skin.

A lack of sleep also affects our social interactions throughout appearance. Fatigue can have physical manifestations such as dark under-eye circles, red eyes, more wrinkles, droopy eyelids, and sagging corners of the mouth. The face communicates a huge amount of non-verbal information, and much of what a tired face communicates is negative. Tired people are perceived as sadder, fatigued, upset, and less capable in social situations because of this.

If you want to be perceived to be as capable as you really are, get those eight hours of rest.

Sleep Protects Against Obesity and Diabetes

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Eve Van Cauter, PhD, and sleep researcher, dubs a lack of sleep the “royal route to obesity”. Her research has shown that people who don’t get enough sleep—dubbed “short sleepers”—undergo physical and hormonal changes which predispose them to weight gain. Without sleep, the body produces less leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite. In addition to this, fatigue, as we have said, significantly impairs judgement. You’re more likely to pile food on your plate without realizing your portions are far too large.

This can cause an even greater disturbance in sleep, as the obese are much more likely to report sleep disturbances such as sleep apnea, which, in turn, makes it all the more difficult to find the energy to exercise. This leads to a cycle of weight gain that is difficult to escape.

Getting less sleep is also associated with diabetes by causing insulin resistance. In insulin resistance, the body fails to use insulin properly, resulting in high blood sugar—a condition that can damage blood vessels. Over time, this insulin resistance can become full diabetes, with all of the symptoms and difficulties the disease entails

Get some rest, and avoid putting on those extra pounds.

It Protects Against Stress

A lack of sleep causes stress, resulting in the release of the hormone, cortisol, into the bloodstream. Cortisol is useful “fight or flight” hormone that is dangerous if levels are chronically raised, causing a wide variety of problems, such as decreased wound healing, decreased muscle mass, more abdominal fat, high blood pressure, and dampened thyroid function.

The full range of effects of chronic stress upon the body are almost too many to name, but chief among them are cardiovascular problems, lowered sex drive, anxiety, headaches, and upset stomach. Stress is something which touches every area of your life, decrease your overall quality of life, especially over a long period of time.

Stress also causes a disruption of sleep, again leading to a cycle of poor sleep, bad health, and bad health causing further poor sleep.

Chronic sleep loss almost always results in a lowering of the quality of whatever sleep you do get, so avoid adding an extra stressor to your life, and get adequate sleep.

Sleep Protects Against Depression

Stress is associated with depression and anxiety, and sleep alleviates stress and increases energy levels, leading us to feel good. Depression, especially, can result from any sleep disorder. Over time, the chronic fatigue, irritability, and lack of energy caused by poor sleep can reinforce negative modes of thought.

If you’re feeling blue, try improving your “sleep hygiene”. Do this by creating a safe, comfortable environment in which to sleep, and only use that environment for rest. Do not get into bed and watch TV or browse the internet on your phone—the blue-tinted light emitted by many screens causes a disruption in sleep patterns. Avoid caffeine close to bedtime, as well as strenuous activity which may put the body into a more alert state. Finally, establish a routine—go to bed at roughly the same time each night, and establish a routine set of activities that you do each night before bed.

Try this, and you’ll find the quality of your sleep improves, and that your mood is boosted from this. With the added energy, you’ll feel more motivated, productive, and excited to take on life.

Sleep Increases Your Lifespan

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A recent study in the scientific journal, Sleep, has shown that a chronic lack of sleep makes an individual 12 percent more likely to die prematurely than someone who sleeps up to 8 hours. Remembering all of the information we’ve gone over, we can see why.

Short sleepers are more likely to be stressed, depressed, anxious, diabetic, and obese, and each of these states comes with its own host of disorders, including the inability to judge when more sleep is needed. Is it any wonder then, that both the quality and duration of the lives of the sleep deprived are less?

Most people need, as we’ve said, between 7.5 hours and 8 hours of sleep. But everyone varies, so how do you actually know when you’re getting enough sleep to take advantage of all of its protections?

If you’re using an alarm clock, you’re probably not getting enough sleep.

You should be going to bed early enough that your body awakens naturally—this is the surest way to tell if you’re getting enough sleep. However many hours your body sleeps, naturally, plan for that. Integrate it into your day. It is vital that you do.

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