01 Oct Written for Deer Lodge Centre Foundation: Story on Importance of Sleep
This was an article written for my good friends at the Deer Lodge Centre Foundation on the benefits of sleep. Awareness helps to ensure people look after themselves, and it starts with accessible information. You can find it in its entirety at the Deer Lodge Centre Foundation website.
You’re always drowsy. Your head nods when you try to focus. You can’t seem to remember the simplest details about the conversation you just had. Your diet isn’t working.
The problem might be the amount of sleep you’re getting. Which means learning how to get enough sleep is the solution.
That’s right—enough sleep might even help you lose those extra pounds your diet just can’t seem to knock off.
It’s hard to overstate the role sleep plays in ensuring the well-being of our mind, body and spirit. And it turns out most of us aren’t getting enough.
Drowsiness, one of the more benign effects of sleep deficiency, can impact your work life and your relationships. It makes you cranky, forgetful, less productive. It can be a real danger if you operate machinery. Over the long term, sleep deficiency has been linked with poor heart health, risky behaviour, diabetes, and more.
The purpose of sleep
As we sleep, our brains form new pathways to help us learn and remember information. Much like a computer, we need to let our brain rest once in a while to get the most out of it. Any new skill or information only begins to truly embed itself in our neural pathways during sleep. Thus, sleep helps us hone our problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities as well as creativity.
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