6 Reasons to have a good night sleep you may not have thought of

From helping you feel better, to banishing under eye wrinkles, the benefits of sleep are endless – here are 6 more reasons to motivate you to get a good night sleep.

Sleep can help with your diet
• It can reduce your cravings for unhealthy food – Studies show sleep deprived people crave more junk food and have less ability to make healthy food choices. Sleep increases a person’s resolve to diet.
• It can help you feel fuller for longer – The two main hormones involved with sleep and metabolism are leptin and ghrelin. In sleep deprived people leptin, the hormone responsible for feeling full, drops, and the appetite inducing hormone ghrelin goes up.
• You’re more likely to exercise – Not only does sleep lead to more energy, it increases your drive to stick to your goals.
• You burn calories in your sleep – 50 to 100 calories an hour in fact. Getting good sleep encourages a healthy metabolism and helps with insulin resistance.

Sleep can help improve your memory
• Sleeping is great for your memory, so if you’re wanting to remember something or learn new things then the old adage to “sleep on it” really does hold true. Sleep has a role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information and getting good quality shut eye, and it also helps our brains extract information that we’ve learned to actually retain it better. So if you’re thinking of pulling an all-nighter in order to do better in an exam, think again, studies have shown people who have a good night sleep are two and a-half times better the next morning than participants who either didn’t sleep or who were tested on the same day as studying.
• The bottom line is getting good quality sleep will help you remember important things, retain new information and process things better.

Sleep can help you lower stress
Our bodies have an inbuilt way of dealing with stressful emotions and this is by consolidating thoughts and memories via our sleep, in particular REM sleep. During this stage, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, keeping our neurotransmitters in check.

Sleep can help with your happiness levels
It’s been said that depression can lead to lack of sleep, however the converse is also true that lack of sleep can lead to depression. Luckily a good night sleep can help improve your mood, reduce anxiety and help stabilise your emotions. Definitely something to be happy about.

Sleep can improve Performance
The quality and amount of sleep athletes get is often the key to winning. A study in the journal SLEEP confirms the role of sleep in performance with results that show declines in split-second decision making following poor sleep. Results also showed increased accuracy in well-rested subjects. The good news is you don’t need to be a top athlete in order for sleep to be of great benefit.

Sleep can help you avoid accidents
Statistics have shown that drivers who get just one or two hours less sleep than needed in a 24 hour period can double the chances of having an accident. Same can be said for workplace accidents with sleep deprivation being cited as a major contributing factor in Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, The Challenger Explosion, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and American Airlines flight 1420 crash – need I say more.

I hope this is the extra motivation you need to get on top of your sleep issues. If you’re struggling to sleep I’m co-hosting the Sleep Awakening workshop with COMO Shambhala Estate in Ubud, May 17-23. Not only will this be a great holiday, you’ll spend the week focussing on what it is that’s keeping you awake and learn what to do to combat this. https://www.comohotels.com/comoshambhalaestate/wellness/the-sleep-awakening