The Importance of Sleep to Your Health

There's nothing quite like waking up in the morning and feeling completely refreshed after a full night's rest. However, a good night's sleep doesn't just impact how you feel when you wake up, it also plays a crucial role in how your body functions over the rest of the day - and in the state of your long-term health in general. To ensure that you're sleeping enough, the Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine both recommend that adults between 18 and 60 get at least seven hours of sleep a night.

How Sleep Affects Your Physical Health

Sleep is essential to keeping your body in good shape. According to the Centers for Disease Control, lack of sleep is linked to an increased risk of developing obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Not getting enough sleep will also weaken your immune system, thereby increasing the risk of catching an illness. Besides directly affecting your body, a lack of sleep can also increase the risk of physical injury. Drowsiness can impair your ability to do everyday tasks, such as driving. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving resulted in 37,000 car crashes between 2005 and 2009.

How Sleep Affects Your Mental Health

Odds are you've experienced some of the mental issues that come from not getting enough sleep, like trouble concentrating, a loss of mental sharpness, and even issues with your memory. These problems, in turn, can affect your productivity at school or work. In fact, per the Rand Corp., sleep deprivation and its effect on productivity has been linked to the loss of roughly 1.2 million working days every year in the U.S. alone.

How Sleep Affects Your Emotional Health

Getting a good night's sleep is important to your mood. How often have you been in a good mood when you're tired, after all? Besides just causing general irritability or crankiness, a lack of sleep can cause more serious mood disorders as well, such as paranoia and depression. As you can see, the importance of sleep should not be ignored. Let our experts help you find the perfect mattress so you can get the rest you need today.