Here’s How Good Sleep Affects Your Health

As the Bedmakers of Britain, if there’s one thing we know better than anyone, it’s sleep. We can all relate to the feeling of slipping into bed after a long day and letting yourself finally relax. In fact, it’s something we as humans are hardwired to enjoy. Yet it’s easy to slip into bad habits that result in poor sleep or a troublesome sleeping pattern. In fact, 1 in 3 of us suffer from poor sleep.

What are the benefits of a good sleeping pattern?

A positive sleeping pattern can affect your body's immune system, attention span and even help you stay healthy both mentally and physically. In this article we’ll be sharing how the way you sleep can affect your day to day life.

Your Sleeping Pattern can Improve Concentration and Attention

Can a good night’s rest make you more focussed throughout the day? Sleeping gives the body time to recover and the mind to settle. Without a good rest, your mind is less likely to be attentive and more likely to wander. There’s a reason why lorry drivers focus so much on ensuring they get a good rest while travelling long distances. A good sleep is the key to being alert and maintaining concentration. Research suggests that the effects of bad sleep can also affect other mental functions including long-term memory and decision making.

Sleeping Better Builds a Strong Immune System

Does good sleep improve my immune system? If there’s anything we can appreciate after the past couple of years, it’s the benefit of a strong immune system. Giving your body a chance to rest properly allows the proteins and cells of your immune system to fight off bugs and keep you fighting fit. Research tells us that sleep enhances immune defences and that various signals from immune cells can even promote better sleep.

Good Sleep Helps You Stay Healthy

Can a good sleeping pattern reduce my appetite and keep me healthy? A bad sleep is known to cause all sorts of nasty conditions, particularly with the heart. It’s important to get a good rest so that your blood pressure drops and you maintain a healthy balance. This keeps your heart healthy but also gives your body the chance to preserve energy, meaning that you’re less likely to have an increased appetite during the day.

Furthermore, studies have suggested that people who usually sleep less than 5 hours a night have an increased risk of developing diabetes and tend to gain more weight and have a higher risk of becoming obese than those who get 7 hours. So stay healthy, and count those sheep.

Good Sleep Results in Increased Sex Drive and Fertility

Does better sleep increase my Sex Drive? A lack of quality sleep can cause a drop in libido and less interest in sex. In men, a lack of sleep has also been linked to a greater risk or erectile dysfunction. In addition, a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation has found that women getting less than seven hours of sleep are 15% less likely to get pregnant than women who got seven to eight hours. On the other hand, women undergoing a treatment like IVF who got seven to eight hours of sleep were 25% more likely to get pregnant than women who got nine or more.

Sleep Reduces Stress and Promotes Positive Mental Health

Can sleep improve my mental health? It’s well known that a positive sleep is the best natural anti-stress relief. And the number of people suffering with mental health and stress have reached their highest in 2021. Stress causes your body to release various hormones that can keep you awake at night and result in a rough night’s sleep. It’s a catch-twenty-two. Sleep relieves stress but stress makes it hard to sleep. Fortunately, there are some great ways to improve how you get to sleep.

So we know that good sleeping and a positive sleeping pattern can dramatically affect your health but how exactly do you break out of a negative sleeping pattern cycle? Read our article where we discuss how to do just that.