SLEEP - HEALING TIME

Everyone needs rest. When someone works non-stop without a break, it is common to hear “Is he a machine”? Fact remains that even machines that work without rest have a tendency to heat up and wear out faster. Giving the body the ‘appropriate sleep’ it needs, is an important thing you can do for your body in addition to eating healthy, being physically active, enjoying work or a hobby and being mentally calm. The word ‘appropriate’ has importance because too much or too less are both not ideal. Knowledge that 6-8 hours of sleep is important for the body has been long known. However, like many other beneficial things, we tend to ignore this, in 2 major ways: Either we do not get this many hours of sleep or it does not happen at the correct time. Cutting down on the number of hours of sleep on a regular basis upsets the body physiology negatively affecting everything from body weight to mood to heart rate. Going to sleep late and waking up late is not suitable to the body’s circadian rhythm either, even if one manages to squeeze in 8 hours. We all learnt this in school – “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. Somewhere in the midst of making a career, family and money, we forgot this. Science supports that it is time to revive this. As step 1, let us start becoming aware that sleep is important.

Tips on improving sleep quality to follow soon.