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Ernest Hemingway said it best: “I love sleep. My life tends to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?”

I do know. I’ve been every kind of sleeper throughout my life so far:

• The one who sleeps in on weekends
• takes effortless naps in the middle of the day
• the fitful, restless sleeper
• The sleeper at gets a healthy, respectable 7-8 hours and wakes up refreshed with no problem whatsoever

The quality of my life while awake also varies greatly depending on which sleep phase I am going through. Whenever I am sleeping too little or uncomfortably, the effects are noticeable – I’m sluggish, have brain fog, and have less energy; I get cranky, and it shows itself in my appearance. My eyes have bags and dark circles, and my skin looks sallow. Not ideal.

The book I am currently reading, “The Ripple Effect,” discusses the importance of sleep as one of the main pillars of good health. The author, Greg Wells, talks about how almost 20% of our population is currently sleep-deprived. Our intense work schedules, personal lives, hobbies, and social engagements leave us less time to rest properly. According to the National Sleep Foundation, people sleep 20% less than a century ago.

Not enough sleep is so damaging that it shortens our life span. An epidemiological study of over one million Americans reported that sleep duration below 6 hours per night was associated with increased mortality.

Below are some of the key points mentioned by Greg Wells in Ripple Effect about the importance of high-quality sleep no matter your age or lifestyle.

BENEFITS OF HIGH-QUALITY SLEEP

Fights cancer

During sleep, the immune system recovers and regenerates – sleep helps fight disease and illness and even helps us survive cancer. A 2012 US study found that women who don’t get enough sleep are at a higher risk of developing cancer. Another study also revealed that, on average, women who sleep more also survived advanced breast cancer for 68.9 months.

Improves the quality of your exercise

If you sleep soundly, you will perform better during your next workout. Conversely, if you exercise consistently, you will sleep better. It is a reciprocal relationship and another example of the “ripple effect” of good health habits.

Improves mental focus and learning ability

Of all of the benefits of great sleep, this is one I can safely say that I already knew of and have reaped the benefits of many times. Rest does terrific things for the brain.

Even though most of us intuitively know that sleep helps brain performance, researchers are discovering that it helps at the cellular level. Lack of sleep causes decreased alertness, attention, vigilance, perception, memory and thinking.

Greg Wells explains that when we sleep, new connections are made between the billions of neurons in our brains. These connections are critical because they form the basis for our thoughts, memories, problem-solving, decision-making, motor patterns and other vital functions.

Boosts creativity

REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep) has been identified as an incredibly creative state. In a 2009 study at the University of California-san Diego, researchers found that REM sleep “directly enhances creative processing more than any other sleep or wake state.”

Decreased risk of cardiovascular disease

Professor Francesco Cappuccio of Warwick Medical School says: “If you sleep less than six hours per night and have disturbed sleep, you stand a 48 percent greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease and a 15 percent greater chance of developing or dying from a stroke.”

The current global trend of hustle culture, which leads to sleep deprivation, is a ticking time bomb for our health. Start getting better sleep now to reduce the risk of developing life-threatening conditions.

Controls weight gain

There is a direct link between lack of sleep and obesity. Lack of sleep disrupts insulin metabolism, leading to obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

In Ripple Effect, Greg Wells states that even a short period of sleeplessness directly changes the metabolism of our cells: It makes them act as if we have type 2 diabetes.

Good sleep also helps us to eat smarter, which helps with weight control. When we sleep properly, the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which enable managing hunger and satiety, are regulated and controlled. This means that consistent, good sleep helps the body to manage hunger and cravings.

Improves mental health

Lack of sleep plays a big part in causing anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Between 50% to 80% of people with psychiatric challenges have chronic sleep problems, compared with up to 25% of the general population.

Sleep used to be considered a result of mental health issues, but further research has proved that it’s actually a cause.

(I’ve discussed sleep and other tips to quickly mentally declutter in this blog post: How to Mentally Declutter in Under One Hour)

Reduces inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s mechanism for healing and repairing tissues. For example, when you get a cut or other wound, it’s the inflammatory process that helps heal your skin. Poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of inflammatory diseases, which inhibit this healing process.

If you are interested in reading the rest of the book “The Ripple Effect,” you can click on the image below to purchase a copy. This book has taught me so much that I didn’t know about the interrelation between nutrition, sleep, exercise, and mental health. I highly recommend it to anyone who is anywhere along their health journey – Whether it is recovering from an illness, striving for a better work-life balance, or simply feeling better day to day.

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