Are You Sleeping Well?

When we were still young we slept a lot - most of the time because our parents, (well, our mothers) asked us to and we really hated it. Then, as teenagers, we loved going to our friend's house for a sleepover, stayed up all night and enjoyed the night with giggles and stories. But the next day, going to school was a struggle. We did enjoy the night but it took so much willpower to listen to our teacher. Now that we're grown-ups, we love sleeping even when it's not time to sleep! Sometimes we're caught sleeping during a meeting, a class discussion, while at church, while driving, and at work. From experiences we had, you would agree that if we do not allow ourselves adequate sleep, we do not function well during the day and accomplished almost nothing. There's only one reason for these, and that is we are depriving ourselves of that much needed 8 - 9 hours of sleep.

What are we doing depriving ourselves of that precious hours of sleep? When we are not sleeping well at night, it could be because we spend the night worrying about our children, our health, our jobs, our future and almost about everything. These days, children and young people spend hours at night playing computer games, or staying online with their phones or any gadget that has social media apps on it instead of sleeping the night away. What good would that contribute to our health?

According to Webmd, sleep deprivation has 10 surprising effects. Sleep deprivation can cause so many unwanted things like accidents, impairs our attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning and problem solving. Really, would we like that?

Here are some unwanted effects of not getting enough sleep:

• Weight Gain

If you did not get enough sleep the previous night, you would be dragging through your day and try to fuel yourself with quick energy food sources. The result would be weight gain, which, you won't notice at first. Getting adequate sleep will help our bodies produce normal hormones which were created to work in tandem to let you know when you are hungry and when you have had enough. So it's important to be well-slept during the night because we need our hormones to work for us, not against. us.

• Clouded Thinking

One night of sleep deprivation is enough to alter our judgment and slow our reaction time, thus, traffic accidents and work-related injuries occur.

• Mental Health Decline

You are at risk of depression and other mental illness if you are in the habit of depriving yourself of the much-needed sleep your body needs. Our brain produces a mood-elevating chemical called serotonin during sleep. We improve our own mood and mental health by getting a full night's sleep.

• Weakened Immune System

Do not wait until you are very ill to get enough sleep. If you are prone to colds or stomach virus, one of the cause is that you have a weak immune system due to sleep deprivation. Not getting enough sleep on all those nights when you are well may leave you vulnerable to another illness, or even a dreadful disease.

True, sleep deprivation can have undesirable effects on our mental health and it can also lead to serious health problems. I have difficulty sleeping and it has affected the way I think and perform during the day. Work is not done efficiently, I get quickly irritated, and I get very bad headaches when I am sleeping for more or less than 6 hours a night. I had only come to realize the importance of sleep when my day-to-day activities were finally affected because of sleep deprivation.

Life is good, and health is wealth. So let's start treasuring them by sleeping well at night. Imagine what happens if you sleep just a few hours night after night! It would take you a long time to recover from the effects of sleep deprivation and it could also mean you have to spend much-earned money because of it. Let's stay well and healthy by not ignoring what we need to do. Dedicate at least 8 hours to your pillow each night and stop depriving yourself of those precious hours of sleep.