Four Reasons to Prioritize Sleep During Dead Week
According to the National Institute of Health “The average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night”. Now I’m not sure about you guys, but 7 hours sounds wonderful to me. I would say I get 6 hours of sleep on average at school. However, there are severe consequences to not getting enough sleep.
- Brain Function
National Heart, Lung, and Blood institute states that “Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change.” If you feel like you are struggling in any of these categories (you should all be raising your hand, I am!) you may link these challenges back to sleep deprivation.
- Physical Health
Lack of sleep can result in a weak immune system. Ever wonder why that sore throat happens to come around at the worst times? Stress and lack of sleep are extremely harmful to the immune system. Pick up extra hours of nap time along with vitamin C pills!
- Skin Health
WebMD shows us a surprising result of sleep deprivation – aging skin! WebMD states “When we don’t get enough sleep our body releases more of the stress hormone cortisol.” This causes our skin to lack in smoothness and even dry out our skin. I guess beauty sleep is a real thing!
- Ability to Learn
The Huffington post had some interesting information about how we are easily distracted when we don’t get the sleep we need. Lauren Friedman wrote “Studies also show that sleep deficiency alters activity in some parts of the brain. If you’re sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior, and coping with change.” Yikes! What is the point of staying up late to get things done if you aren’t able to comprehend the work you are doing?
Overall, despite our stress levels and work schedules, we still need to prioritize sleep this week. Getting work done effectively will count on our hours of sleep! Take care of yourselves collegietes, only one more week to go.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-get-enough-sleep-2014-2
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/10-results-sleep-loss?page=2
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why