April – Sleep
Life seems to get busier every year. To adjust, we tend to cut back on sleep, in order to get everything done. The trade off however, may not be worth it. Getting enough quality sleep improves brain function, emotional balance, physical health, and long‑term disease risk.
Sleep strengthens memory, learning, and problem‑solving by consolidating information and clearing metabolic waste from the brain. Adequate sleep improves attention, reaction time, and work or school performance, while lack of sleep impairs judgment and productivity. Adults who routinely sleep well think more clearly, feel more stable emotionally.
Those who get a good night’s sleep get sick less often and have lower rates of conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Sufficient sleep helps the immune system detect and remember pathogens, so you get sick less often and respond better to vaccines. Ongoing sleep loss increases susceptibility to infections like colds and other viruses. Quality sleep lowers nighttime blood pressure and inflammation, supporting heart health and reducing risk of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. Deep sleep supports insulin sensitivity and appetite hormones, helping with blood sugar control and healthy weight maintenance, and lowering risk of type 2 diabetes.
Most adults feel best with 7-8 hours of sleep at night. How many hours of sleep do you have in a typical night?