Even though it’s recommended to get seven to nine hours of sleep daily most adults only sleep six. Sleep is not only important to rest but it activates our immune system, which helps to fight viruses and bacteria, and helps build memory. Sleep deprivation is when you sleep for less hours than your body needs, which can cause a series of significant health problems. In this blog post, we highlight signs that you probably need more sleep.

You need more sleep if you struggle to get up in the morning

Most of us have experienced that situation where it feels difficult to get out of bed or even open our eyes. This is because we did not sleep the hours our body needs. If this happens on work days, it might be tempting to sleep longer on off days to catch up on lost sleep. However, this is not an effective way to rest our body since we create an irregular sleeping pattern that doesn’t help us to keep our hormones in balance.

You have trouble maintaining a healthy weight

Sleeping less increases our appetite, causing your body to crave an energy boost, and since it cannot get it from sleep it tries to get it from food. It is also demonstrated that sleep deprivation causes cravings for food high in carbs and fat.

Working out while feeling tired also limits performants and workouts don’t give you the same results.

It is difficult to concentrate and focus

Research has demonstrated that sleep deprivation leads to lower concentration and alertness. It is difficult for to pay attention and focus when you don’t get enough sleep, and you might get confused easily. This affects the ability to perform mind tasks, judge and make decisions.

Sleep deprivation also acts on our ability to learn since we cannot focus well and it gets more difficult to absorb new information. It is very common among college students to black out on the day of the exam because they have spent the whole night studying instead of sleeping.

Memory is impacted

Sleep is fundamental for consolidating memory, without the right hours of sleep it is difficult for the brain to take in new information and recall older information. There are three stages in creating a memory: acquisition, consolidation and recall. Acquisition and recall are actions that take place while we are awakened but scientists believe that consolidation happens when we sleep. This means that chronic sleep deprivation can be a cause of memory loss.

How to get better sleep

Sleep is fundamental for our well-being and overall health and it should be a priority for all of us. Below are some tips on how to get a good night’s sleep:

• Stick to a sleeping schedule. keep the same sleeping hours during the week but also at the weekends.
• Create a peaceful sleep environment, keeping your room cool, dark and quiet if possible.
• Establish a calming bedtime routine that includes activities such as reading a book, taking a bath, or meditating.
• Don’t underestimate the impact of a comfortable mattress. Many people toss and turn throughout the night, wake up with aches and pains and feeling tired, and fail to consider that the mattress might be the source of the problem. Answer this quick Sealy quiz to discover the best mattress for you: Find the perfect Sealy.
• Invest in a good pillow. Read our blog post: Could a new pillow help me sleep better?

Taking care of the quality of our sleep can make a huge difference to your health and improve your mood and performance. Just like everything else, sleeping the right amount of hours is a habit that might take a little bit of effort to implement but we can immediately notice the benefits of this change.