Essay on Sleep Habits: A Necessity for Improved Health & Performance

Introduction

Sleep is a natural state in which the brain rests; its occasioned by low bodily movements and decreased sensory activities. Slumber is an indispensable feature of our life. I selected the topic because it affects me as a student at a personal level. Proper sleeping habits result in increased alertness, proper brain functioning, reduces stress levels, and improves the health of an individual. Personally, poor sleeping habits affected my performance as I was addicted to movies during the night. Poor sleeping habits from extended movie nights resulted in poor health, deteriorating school performance, and low concentration in class. I am researching on how to improve my sleeping habits for better health and increased school performance for a better future. This paper focusses on sleep and its effect on our health.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Sleep Enhances Good Health

Proper sleeping habits results in improved health of the body. A sound night's sleep accords the body cells with the time to recuperate after a day of wearing and tearing as a result of many exercises. Rogers et al., (2020) highlight that during the day, the cells wear and tear when the body is active, during the night's sleep, the cells can regroup, repair the torn cells, and protein synthesizes. Nights sleep is optimum for these functions as the body is not active. Rogers et al., 2020 research show that when cells can regroup and repair during the night, the body can function well as the cells can produce adequate hormones for improved appetite, regulation of metabolism, and stress management. To improve my health, I ensure I get enough night's sleep, and it is of the right quality so that the body can restore the worn-out tissues and enhance the body's ability to fight diseases (Rogers et al., 2020).

Exposure to The Common Cold Disease

Without proper sleeping habits, there is the exposure of the body to many health challenges, such as the common cold. From research, individuals who have less than seven hours of sound sleep have their probability of contracting a common cold by more than three times. The people who have more than seven hours of a good night's sleep are more capable of fighting the rhinovirus, which is responsible for the common cold. Rogers et al., (2020) assert that poor sleeping habits cause insomnia, and it is also known to cause severe healthiness implications such as heart disease and diabetes. From the nights I substituted my night's sleeping time with watching movies, I experienced many attacks of common cold and fever, although I thought it was a result of climate change that has occurred in the recent past. Every month I had a common-cold attack. The doctor prescribed I avoid staying up so late in the night to ensure that I have enough night's sleep. By adhering to the doctor's conditions enabled my body to adapt and gain resistance to the rhinovirus. Nowadays, I changed my lifestyle to getting enough night's sleep by avoiding movie nights. Getting enough sleep boosts my body's immunity to the common cold-causing Rhinovirus and other related medical conditions.

Increasing Alertness and Concentration

Enough night's sleep increases the body's level of alertness and concentration during the day. By sleeping well, the body and the brain can rest adequately, and cells reorganize as they prepare for the activities of the following day. From the recommendations by the "American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)," the body should have enough sleep so that it can function properly during the day. With improved sleeping habits, students can perform well in their studies. Lawrence Epstein said, "Recent studies have shown that adequate sleep is essential to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health and working at peak performance." Confirmed by Clete A. Kushida, who is a medical professor in the institution, he says that if a person is not alert during the day, the odds are high that the person does not have a good sleep. The conditions that influence the extent of alertness during the day are the quantity and quality of sleep. Dr. Kushida pronounces that "There are data that sleep loss leads to learning and memory impairment, as well as decreased attention and vigilance," which influence students' performance in their classes, this also happened to me on a personal level. When I dint, have right, and enough sleep, my academic results deteriorated. Since then, I get enough and quality sleep, and since then, my academic results improved. If one has enough sleep and of the right quality, he/she will be vigilant during the day. Therefore, to increase the level of alertness and concentration in the places of work, one must have a night of adequate sleep. The recommended sleep time is 4-7 hours per day, regardless of daytime rest. (AASM, 2019).

Enough Sleep Increases Memorability

Having enough sleep increases the body's ability to memorize events. When one is asleep, there are minimal brain activities that take place in the body. During this period, when there the brain is not active, the worn-out cells are replenished, and there is the replacement of the damaged cells, these activities ensure that the brain has active cells that promote memory. When a person is sleeping, the brain consolidates memories that occurred in the previous day and stores them, this aids in memory. Dr. Epstein from Sleep Health Centres in Brighton, said: "There are data that sleep loss leads to learning and memory impairment, as well as decreased attention and vigilance." Thus, with a night of good sleep, one gets good memory, and the person can be able to learn effectively as he/she reminds what he learned promptly. Dr. Epstein said, "Students getting adequate amounts of sleep performed better on memory and motor tasks than did students deprived of sleep." Therefore, to increase memorability, students should get enough night's sleep and ensure that the sleep is of the right quality (AASM, 2019).

Insomnia

Insomnia is a medical condition that results from poor sleeping habits. Insomnia causes mental problems to its patients. In the institutions of learning, it has resulted in many cases of mental health. AASM, (2018) asserts that when the body is not allowed to rest, it develops insomnia as the brain cells are ever active, and they do not have enough rest. Due to sleeplessness, there is the exposure of the body to dangers such as drowsiness during work. Sleepiness during driving causes many deaths and bodily harm to its patients. Drowsiness during driving is as dangerous as drunkenness. Information from "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration" reveals that in the US alone, there are about 100,000 car accidents due to fatigue caused by insomnia and drowsiness. The accidents contribute to about 1,550 deaths yearly (AASM, 2018).

Health Conditions

There is a direct link between poor sleeping habits and high blood pressure, type two diabetes, and obesity. CDC, (2018), highlights that from Statistics, there is an indication that if a person sleeps less than the recommended time of seven hours during the night, they increase their probabilities of contracting these diseases as compared to the people who have good night's sleep (CDC, 2018).

High blood pressure, when the body is sleeping during the night, there are minimal activities that take place. The reduced actions result in decreased blood pressure as the body is not active. However, when one is awake during the time, he should be asleep, the body is still active, and blood pumping is vigorous; this results in prolonged exposure to high blood pressure. The prolonged exposure results in high blood pressure condition, which is a killer condition in the US (CDC, 2018).

Obesity, without adequate sleep, the body can gain weight to unhealthy levels leading to obesity. CDC, (2018) highlights that Obesity due to poor sleeping habits is a common condition in children and adolescents. Insufficient sleep tampers with the hypothalamus, which is a portion of the brain responsible for controlling the urge to eat, resulting in increased appetite, which results in obesity (CDC, 2018).

Sleeplessness Results in Dumbness

Sleep ensures that the body has rested enough after a day's work. The rest enables the brain to be able to learn efficiently and think properly. When the body fails to relax enough because of sleeplessness, there is the interference of the two cognitive processes. Interference of the mental processes leads to decreased levels of attention, thinking, and problem-solving skills. CDC, (2018) asserts that during the night, when one is sleeping, the brain can unite memories, which enables a person to remind what he/she learned during the previous day; this aids the person in the learning process as the memory is good. However, when there is the interference of these processes of the consolidation of memories, the body cannot be able to learn effectively. When I trans-knighted watching movies, my leaning abilities deteriorated, which resulted in poor performance. When the doctor advised that I get enough sleep, I sleep about 5-6 hours a day, and my learning ability improved and my results too.

Improved sexual drive

When the body gets enough sleep and of the right quantity causes the body to have increased levels of libido and sexual drive. Inadequate and poor-quality sleep results in depletion of energy, sleepiness during sex, and increment in the tension of the body, which results in decreased interest in sex. WEBMD, (2014) highlights From research sleeplessness can cause low levels of testosterone in men. However, is the body gets enough can sleep, the body is energetic and can produce more sexual hormones leading to increased sexual drive and libido (WEBMD, 2014).

Recovery from Stress and Illness

Quality and enough sleep enable the body to manage stress and recover from illnesses. During the night when the body is asleep important physiological excises take place in the body. The body can synthesize energy and proteins, recover from illnesses, and also manage stress. When these activities take place, the body can properly function as it has power for the following day, as there is the repair of worn-out cells and the substitution of damaged cells. A person who does not sleep well usually takes longer to recover from an illness as compared to a person who has the sleep of the right quantity and quality (Team, 2019).

Conclusion

Sleep has many effects on our health, and it's an essential aspect of our life. When one is asleep, the body can rest; there is the replacement of worn-out brain cells; this ensures that the brain is functioning well as all cells are active. During sleep, the brain consolidates memories that aids in memorability. With good memorability, the body can learn and remember efficiently. When the body sleeps well at night, it can stay alert during the day, increasing the ability to learn, this helps students to be active in class. Sleeplessness exposes the body to many health conditions such as common cold, heart diseases, insomnia, type two diabetes, and stroke. These medical conditions are the leading causes of death in the US among the elderly. To prevent the exposure of the body to these ailments, one should have a night's sleep of 5-7 hours. The night's rest should be of the right quality for optimum functioning of the body. To ensure that my body functions optimally and not exposed to the health conditions associated with poor health, I adjusted my sleeping habits to the recommended 5-7 hours per night. The change in lifestyle has ensured I minimize staying up late in the night so that I stay awake and alert in class, and that has resulted in improvement of my perform...