are you getting enough quality sleep?

Recommended by most experts is 7 to 9 hours.

Wow, 9 hours, what a life of luxury..right? 8 hours is a good happy medium.

Upping your sleep quality, as well as the amount of hours you spend sleeping, are both very important for your health in the short and long term.

Not getting enough of the quality sleep your body needs can be detrimental for health. It can lead to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, weight gain and hormonal imbalances, increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.

When you don’t get enough quality sleep, you are usually unable to think as clearly or efficiently, make important decisions easily, and your judgement can be impaired. You may not do as well at work or school. You may be more prone to accidents and injuries because you are tired and are unable to focus and maneuver as well throughout your day. You may be more likely to become impatient and short-tempered with family, friends, or coworkers, which affects your relationships. You may not have the energy or motivation to do any physical activity…

Not getting enough of the sleep you need can contribute to all sorts of problems, directly and indirectly.

Sleep is the time that your body rests and repairs itself, and if you are not getting enough of this, you are not getting the repair that your body needs to move forward in a state of health.

You are just not setting yourself up for success..

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Have you also noticed when you don’t get enough sleep, you crave more unhealthy foods, more caffeine, more sweets and processed foods like cookies, croissants, cakes to “help” you keep going through your day? You are also much more likely to give in because in the very short term you will experience the immediate effects of the sugar which stimulates the opiate receptors in your brain, and the caffeine that makes you more alert…before you crash into a worse state than before. Not too long after, you will most likely feel a whole lot crappier than you did before you gave into your craving. You basically deprived your body of the needed nutrients (whole food), and fed it something unhealthy (processed food) that was toxic instead. All of this, especially after having a poor night’s sleep…

Not good, not good at all..

This can cause weight gain, deprivation of needed nutrients for your body, and a long chain of ill effects.

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If you think back on a day where you didn’t get enough sleep and you did not feel good because of it, pretty much every choice that you make throughout that day can be traced back to depriving your body of rest, rejuvenation and repair that it needs to be in a state of health and to function at it’s optimal physical, mental and emotional level.

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Just like everything in your body is connected, every choice in your life is connected as well and can impact your health in the short and long term.

So how will you work on getting more quality sleep tonight..?