In this time of instant gratification, we look at quick fixes for everything. Have a headache, acidity, anxiety, high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels? Just pop a pill. What we fail to understand is that taking pills is only going to suppress the symptoms and not going to fix the issue at its core. Instead, we should find ways to make changes to our lifestyle that can help us avoid these health discomforts in the first place. With so many distractions available around us, like mobile phones, television, social media and digital entertainment platforms, we find it difficult to concentrate on all the healing, repair and development mechanism that the intelligence of our body already has.

Sleep! Sleep is extremely important for our overall wellbeing, but what is more important is the quality of sleep. I keep emphasizing the importance of sleep because it is a powerful and natural tool available with all of us that we can use to keep us healthy. 

How to Sleep right: To begin with, we need to fix our sleep cycle, i.e. sleeping and waking at almost the same time everyday. In addition, avoid using any digital gadget 30-60 minutes before sleep. This helps us to get to deeper sleep state. It is not just the number of hours of sleep that matters but also the quality of sleep that determines how much we recover during the sleep.

In this article, I am going to highlight some of the key benefits, backed by numerous researches, of good quality sleep. Think of them as gifts offered by nature to which every single one of us have access to; it’s on us whether we can to tap into it or not.

Following are the 6 key benefits of good quality sleep

1. Strengthen Immune System: Your immune system is affected by the Circadian Rhythm and is most active at the night or when we are resting and less active during the day. The bulk of healing goes on during the first third of the night’s sleep when the body is recovering from the busy day due to an increase in slow wave deep sleep. If you, however, are awake in the night, you are not giving your immune system the right environment to work for you and fight those germs, bacteria and viruses to keep you healthy.

2. Helps avoid Susceptibility to minor illness: More and more research are showing that people who do not get enough quality sleep, are more susceptible to minor illness on a frequent basis, when compared to people who manage to get good sleep. 

In a 2015 study by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Carnegie Mellon University, 164 adults were given wrist monitors to track their sleep. After a period of time, it was found that the subjects who slept less (both quality and quantity) were more likely to get sick than others.

3. Fat Loss: All the fat burn happens while you sleep. Hence, irrespective of how much you are working out, have a non-sedentary lifestyle and eating right, unless you sleep well, body would not be able to burn those stubborn fat.

4. Helps you take control of your day: Deep sleep helps you get the right rest and wake up fresh. Moreover, when you sleep on time, you wake up on time; this would give you enough time in the morning for your morning routine (workout, meditation, learning, etc.) and also to plan for your day ahead. That way, you take control of your day as opposed to your day taking control of you.

5. Improves Skin & Hair Health: All Skin repair & Hair growth happens while you sleep and if you are sleep deprived, you are likely to end up having skin and hair related issues. 

6. Detoxification: Like all other bodily functions, detoxification is at its peak when you sleep (That’s why you have white substance on your tongue and around you eyes when you wake up). Lack of sleep would mean you end up having more toxins in your body which could not only bring down your optimal performance but could also make you sick.

Prioritize your Sleep: The only way you can get a good sleep every single night is by having a fixed sleep cycle. Build a good sleep ritual (Refer my blog on good sleep ritual) that can help you stay hooked to your sleep routine. 

You may find it difficult in the beginning, when you have to stay away from the fun of checking your phone, being on social media, watching Netflix, etc.; but once you start following it, soon enough you would realize that the real fun is when you get a good sleep because of which you are at the peak of your good health. In fact, once you follow it for just few weeks, you would never want to mess it back. Let us start tapping into these natural means to stay healthy!