- Ngo Okafor black male model ralaxing, showing the importance of sleep
This was a really good weekend. Japan won the Women’s Soccer World Cup. They fought hard and didn’t give up. They were exhausted, but kept on fighting. Mind over matter. That was the only reason why they were able to beat the US Womens Soccer team to win the World Cup. The US team was a better, but Japan wanted it more. It felt good to have my rhythm back. I was happy to finally have a full week of working out as well. The biggest point of excitement for me was that I was finally able to sleep for more than 3-4 hours at a time. For the week-and-a-half that I was sick, I could only sleep for short bursts at a time. It was ok because I was at home for all that time. I could sleep for 3 hours, wake up and go back to sleep a few short hours later. I don’t have that luxury anymore. I have a lot of work to do and more importantly, these bills won’t pay themselves!
I was able to get 8 hours of sleep for the past 5 days. For the two months that I was in London, taking care of Ogbogu’s affairs, I only slept an average of 4 hours each night. The amount of stress that I was under required that I sleep for a lot longer than 4 hours, but we had so much work to do and such a big fight with the system that I couldn’t afford to sleep. We had to stay a step or two ahead and could not acheive that by sleeping. I strongly believe that this is the reason why I got sick.
The human body is resilient and can adjust to an incredible amount of stress, but you cannot get that lost sleep back. The body will eventually break down. Your body will make you stop when it needs that break. That is what happened to me. I can’t mention all the benefits of 8 hours of sleep on this post, but I will share the most important ones. I will share the benefits that impact our health and may help save lives.
Check out the benefits below:
————————–
1. Sleep Helps the Body Make Repairs
Sleep is a time for your body to repair damage caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful exposures. Your cells produce more protein while you are sleeping. These protein molecules form the building blocks for cells, allowing them to repair damage.
2. Sleep May Help You Lose Weight
Researchers have also found that people who sleep less than seven hours per night are more likely to be overweight or obese. It is thought that the lack of sleep impacts the balance of hormones in the body that affect appetite. The hormones ghrelin and leptin, important for the regulation of appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep. So if you are interested in controlling or losing weight, don’t forget to pay attention to getting a good night’s sleep.
3. Sleep Reduces Stress
When your body is sleep deficient, it goes into a state of stress. The body’s functions are put on high alert which causes an increase in blood pressure and a production of stress hormones. Higher blood pressure increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes. The stress hormones also, unfortunately, make it harder for you to sleep. Learn relaxation techniques to counter the effects of stress. There are also stress reduction techniques for sleep.
4. Sleep Reduces Inflammation
The increase in stress hormones raises the level of inflammation in your body, also creating more risk for heart-related conditions, as well as cancer and diabetes. Inflammation is thought to one of the causes of the deterioration of your body as you age.
5. Sleep Keeps Your Heart Healthy
Heart attacks and strokes are more common during the early morning hours. This fact may be explained by the way sleep interacts with the blood vessels. Lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Your heart will be healthier if you get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.
Sources-
About.com
Written by
Ngo Okafor
The Most Downloaded Black Male Model
