It’s likely that you’ve heard stories of famous people, presidents, renowned scientists, etc., who slept very little. Maybe you’ve heard that they were so motivated that they slept only four hours a night, or even less than that. As it turns out, Orange County, those stories are almost always exaggerated. The less mattress time you put in each night, the less likely that your body and mind are going to be functioning at their full potential.

Sleeping less doesn’t indicate that you’re more motivated than anyone else. It just means that you’re setting yourself up for an epic breakdown at some point down the line. Here’s why sleep should matter to you.  

Quality of Life

If you sleep for at least eight hours every night, or at least eight hours within a twenty-four-hour cycle, then there are a multitude of health benefits that will result. Your safety and your mental and physical health are all on the line if you start sleeping less.

When you are sleep deprived, your mind doesn’t function as well. You can see the damage over time, or it can come back to bite you instantaneously if you’re in a car crash because of sleep deprivation. Sleep affects how you work with others. It regulates your moods, and you get along with your friends and relatives much better if you’re well rested. If you don’t sleep as much, then you’re more inclined to snap at someone, and you’re more likely to get into altercations, both verbal and physical.

Learning

Orange County residents who are trying to learn new things will benefit from more mattress time too. That’s true as an adult, but it’s doubly important if you’re a child or teenager and your mind is still developing. Maybe you’re trying to master a tricky math concept in school or learn the violin. You will take to your lessons and retain the information much easier if you are well rested. Your problem-solving skills will be significantly better the more sleep you had the night before.

You’re also going to have problems making decisions if you don’t sleep as much. You’re less decisive, and you’ll have a tougher time coping with change. Lack of sleep matters so much for your emotional stability that it has been linked to suicidal thoughts or actions, depression, and elevated stress levels.

Physical Health

Orange County residents who don’t get enough mattress time are more inclined to be overweight or obese. Diet and exercise play a part, but studies have shown that the body struggles to maintain a healthy weight if you don’t get enough rest. As you sleep, the body makes repairs to your heart and blood vessels. If you don’t get sleep for an extended amount of time, then you’re looking at a higher chance of stroke, high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease, and diabetes.

Sleep certainly affects how your body reacts to insulin. This is the hormone that controls your body’s glucose or blood sugar level. If you don’t sleep enough, then your body will have higher than average blood sugar, and your chances of contracting diabetes will soar. If you also have genetic indicators that mean you’re predisposed to diabetes, make sure that you’re sleeping enough.

Your immune system also relies on sleep to stay healthy, Orange County residents. If you don’t sleep enough, then you will be much more susceptible to germs, and you’ll catch every virus that goes around. When you rest, the body fights off those viruses, so uninterrupted sleep every night is as valuable as any other medicine you might ingest.

Safety

Earlier we mentioned the possibility of car accidents if you don’t get enough mattress time. Many vehicular accidents take place due in part to either one or the other driver being intoxicated or fatigued. When you don’t sleep enough, you can suffer instances of what is called microsleep.

Microsleep is when you are ostensibly awake. You’re walking around or driving, and you feel fatigued, but you’re awake and your eyes are open. But then you fall asleep for a period of a second or less, and you’re not even aware of it.

It seems like falling asleep and then waking up again a second later is not so dangerous, but think about what might happen during that second. You might smash a shopping cart into a child. Your car might drift off course slightly, and you’ll go into oncoming traffic. There are all types of things that might happen when microsleep comes into play, and the more sleep you miss, the higher the chances of it happening.

Think of all the people who could be affected by lack of sleep, and they might not even be aware of it. Health care providers, pilots, mechanics, bus drivers, the list goes on and on. These are people who need to be sharp and at the top of their game when they are at work, but they can’t be if they haven’t slept enough, especially for nights or even weeks on end. Human error due to lack of proper sleep has been linked to aviation accidents, the grounding of commercial shipping vessels, and nuclear meltdowns.

Start Making Sleep a Priority for You

So, what’s the answer to this problem? Getting a comfortable mattress from one of the Orange County stores and going to sleep at the same time every night. It’s the people who don’t have a regular bedtime that have the most trouble getting enough shuteye. When you have a mental alert that tells your body and mind when it’s time to shut down, it becomes so much easier for you to get that eight hours each night.

If you’re not used to it, then it’s probably going to be a challenge for you when you’re starting out. This is something that you need to be doing, though. If you don’t, then there’s no telling what might happen, but it’s not going to be anything good. You’ll make positive changes in your life through an adjustment as seemingly small as sleeping an extra couple of hours each night, and that’s true regardless of your age or your profession.