Sleeping makes you smart!
While sleeping, our brain cells reenact all the things we have learned during the day. As long as it takes so that the learned stuff merges into long-term memory. In the office, a power nap is worth it, too: 10 to 20 minutes of short sleep enhances our performance.
Lack of sleep makes unattractive
For a study, Swedish scientists took pictures of their test persons –- once, after a nightly rest of eight hours and once after being awake for 31 hours. A different group evaluated the photographed persons according to several different criteria, like: how happy, fit and healthy do they appear to be? From the eyes of the people with the lack of sleep the jury read the biggest amount of sorrow, their pale skin and the hanging corner of the mouth made them unattractive contemporaries in contrast to the long sleepers. Tina Sundelin, study directress, indicates that the face of our vis-à-vis has a strong influence on how we are confronting him or her. Tiredness and signs of weakness –- which occur after lack of sleep –- have a bigger impact on human communication than a lot of people assume.
The heart is thankful for seven hours sleep
Seven or more hours sleep per night significantly improves the advantages of a healthy lifestyle for the heart, as the National Institute for Public Health and Environment and the University Wageningen, Netherlands, conclude. Sufficient exercise, healthy nutrition, few alcohol and non-smoking reduce the risk of cardio-vascular-diseases about 57 %. In case a sufficient amount of sleep was added, the risk even sank to 67 %. The number of deaths strongly declined.
Active days for better nightly rest
Exercise is helping with menopausal symptoms. An American study showed: when you are exercising daily you are controlling more easily hot flushes, night sweats and sleep disturbances. The participants with the age from 54 to 63 years had to keep a sleep-diary and wear sleep monitors. In questionnaires they noted their physical exercises, including housework, nursing tasks and sports. Women who exercised more intense, reported better sleep and less awakenings.
Sufficient sleep diminishes risk of disease
When you are sleeping too less or bad you are more prone to sickness. Because, lack of sleep enhances risk of diseases. Actually, every human being senses how much sleep he or she needs. Here, the optimal sleep duration is very individual and depends on age, structure and sex. But this is for everyone: sleep is vital. When you are sleeping sufficiently and disturbance free, you don’t have to worry. Healthy sleep is the best precondition for health and fitness. But, in case you are sleeping too less or even bad, you run the risk of harming your body. US scientists of the Carnegie Mellon University proved that too less sleep is impairing the immune system and is abetting colds. Furthermore, too less or bad sleep is a risk for a lot of chronical diseases like overweight, high blood pressure, depressions and coronal diseases.