When you’ve had a great night’s sleep, you wake up feeling rested, alert and ready to tackle the day. That’s because your body and brain have had a chance to recover! On the other hand, a lack of sleep will leave you feeling tired and can increase your risk for a wide range of health problems, impacting your mood, heart, physical health, oral health and more.
How much sleep do you need?
When life gets busy, sleep can be affected. It’s estimated that about one-third of adults, and two-thirds of high school students, don’t get enough rest each night. Your sleep requirement depends on several factors, including age, underlying medical conditions, lifestyle and genetic traits. According to Healthline, this is the recommended time for rest broken down by age group:
- Older adults (65+): 7–8 hours
- Adults (18–64 years): 7–9 hours
- Teenagers (14–17 years): 8–10 hours
- School children (6–13 years): 9–11 hours
- Preschoolers (3–5 years): 10–13 hours (including naps)
- Toddlers (1–2 years): 11–14 hours (including naps)
- Infants (4–12 months): 12–15 hours (including naps)
- Newborns (0–3 months): 14–17 hours
How does lack of sleep affect your health?
Your body needs rest the same way it needs air to breathe and food to function. During sleep, your body heals itself. Not getting enough of it can impact many parts of our health.
- Brain Health: Lack of sleep can cause issues with your short- and long-term memory. It also greatly impacts your mood and your emotional responses. If you have trouble thinking clearly or with your concentration, you may have brain fog from drowsiness.
- Heart Health: Over time, lack of sleep can hurt your heart. Insomnia and sleep apnea are both linked to heart problems, including high blood pressure and heart attacks. According to the CDC, adults who rest less than seven hours each night are more likely to report health problems that raise the risk for heart disease and heart attacks.
- Oral Health: If you’re feeling tired or worn down from lack of rest, it’s likely your immune system is feeling the same way. This opens the door for bacteria or other germs to enter your mouth which can lead to canker or cold sores and make you more sensitive to gum disease.
- Diabetes: Lack of sleep may affect your body’s release of insulin, a blood sugar lowering hormone. This places you at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.
- Digestive System: Studies have shown that lack of sleep can impact digestion by creating changes in appetite. Your body normally releases hormones that help you feel hungry or full, and not getting enough sleep can affect when and how these hormones are released.
How can you improve your rest?
Now that you know why sleep is important to your health, here are some tips to help you rest better!
- Stick to a schedule. This means you should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day (even on the weekends!), or as often as possible.
- Create an environment that will help you rest. Keep your room cool, dark and quiet.
- Limit naps during the day. Daytime naps can interfere with nighttime sleep by making you less tired at bedtime.
- Include physical activity in your daily routine.
- Maintain a healthy diet. Limit caffeine to the earlier hours of your day and finish your last meal a couple of hours before you go to bed.
Tonight, grab your favorite, cozy blanket, get snuggled up and try for 7-9 hours of sleep. It’s important for your health!
