Surprising Healthy Benefits Of Sleep You Didn't Know

Surprising Healthy Benefits Of Sleep You Didn't Know

Snooze
Sleep makes you feel better, but its importance goes way beyond just boosting your mood or banishing under-eye circles. 

Adequate sleep is a key part of a healthy lifestyle, and can benefit your heart, weight, mind, and more. 

"Sleep used to be kind of ignored, like parking our car in a garage and picking it up in the morning," says David Rapoport, MD, director of the NYU Sleep Disorders Program. 

Not anymore. Here are some health benefits researchers have discovered about a good night’s sleep.

Improve memory
Your mind is surprisingly busy while you snooze. During sleep you can strengthen memories or "practice" skills learned while you were awake (it’s a process called consolidation).

"If you are trying to learn something, whether it’s physical or mental, you learn it to a certain point with practice," says Dr. Rapoport, who is an associate professor at NYU Langone Medical Center. "But something happens while you sleep that makes you learn it better."

In other words if you’re trying to learn something new—whether it’s Spanish or a new tennis swing—you’ll perform better after sleeping.

Better health
Getting a good night's sleep won't grant you immunity from disease. But study after study has found a link between insufficient sleep and some serious health problems, such as heart disease, heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity.

In most cases, the health risks from sleep loss only become serious after years. That might not always be true, however. One study simulated the effects of the disturbed sleep patterns of shift workers on 10 young healthy adults. After a mere four days, three of them had blood glucose levels that qualified as pre-diabetic.

Better sex life
According to a poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, up to 26% of people say that their sex lives tend to suffer because they're just too tired. There's evidence that in men, impaired sleep can be associated with lower testosterone levels -- although the exact nature of the link isn't clear.

Of course, not getting enough sleep can affect your love life in less direct ways too. "If you're a 28-year-old who's so exhausted you're falling asleep during a date at the movies, that's not good," says Ronald Kramer, MD, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a specialist at the Colorado Sleep Disorders Center in Englewood, Colo.

Heart Healthy
Heart attacks and strokes are more common during the early morning hours. This fact may be explained by the way sleep interacts with the blood vessels. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.

Sleep May Prevent Cancer
People working the late shift have a higher risk for breast and colon cancer. Researchers believe this link is caused by differing levels of melatonin in people who are exposed to light at night. Light exposure reduces the level of melatonin, a hormone that both makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Melatonin appears to suppress the growth of tumors. Be sure that your bedroom is dark to help your body produce the melatonin it needs

Repair your body
Your body produces extra protein molecules while you're sleeping that helps strengthen your ability to fight infection and stay healthy.

These molecules help your immune system mend your body at a cellular level when you are stressed or have been exposed to compromising elements such as pollutants and infectious bacteria.

Sleep reduces stress
A good night's sleep can help lower blood pressure and elevated levels of stress hormones, which are a natural result of today's fast paced lifestyle.

High blood pressure can be life threatening and the physical effects of stress can produce "'wear and tear" on your body and degenerate cells, which propel the aging process. Sleep helps to slow these effects and encourages a state of relaxation.

Live Longer
Too much or too little sleep is associated with a shorter lifespan -- although it's not clear if it's a cause or effect. (Illnesses may affect sleep patterns too.) 

In a 2010 study of women ages 50 to 79, more deaths occurred in women who got less than five hours or more than six and a half hours of sleep per night. 

Have A Healthy Weight
If you are thinking about going on a diet, you might want to plan an earlier bedtime too. 

Researchers at the University of Chicago found that dieters who were well rested lost more fat -- 56 percent of their weight loss -- than those who were sleep deprived, who lost more muscle mass. (They shed similar amounts of total weight regardless of sleep.)