Whether you’re a night owl or an early bird, pretty much everyone—from our doctors to our pets—seems to agree on the importance of good sleep. But why is sleep important?
For starters, better sleep health can lead to better physical and mental health, both in the short and long term.1 A good night’s sleep can help prepare us for the day ahead with energy.
Curious to learn more about why sleep is important? You can start by discovering how your quality time in dreamland can boost your well-being. Then you’ll be ready to unlock all the advantages quality sleep can offer.
#1 Rest and Recovery
They say that time can heal all wounds, but deep sleep is certainly no slouch in the recovery department.
While you’re peacefully tucked beneath the covers in REM sleep, your body and brain are hard at work to keep your body functioning smoothly and repairing any damage. They can’t do that as efficiently while you’re up and about, thinking and moving and doing. When you’re asleep, however, your body’s faculties slow down and focus on healing.
This recovery process includes:
- Repairs, regrowth, and restoration – From your muscles to your blood vessels, deep sleep is the perfect time for your body to put itself back together.2 Producing new tissue and synthesizing protein are a huge part of this process.
- Immune support – During the day, your immune system has an important job of helping you fight away infections and illnesses. But it can’t do that crucial work as well when you don’t get sufficient sleep. That’s because our bodies produce antibodies and cytokines when we’re sleeping, cells that are both key parts of our immune system.3
- Waste removal – Your brain has the amazing capacity to retain knowledge, but when you’re asleep, it also removes things you don’t need—like unneeded information and potentially harmful toxins.4
Without sufficient sleep, your body and mind don’t have the time to carry out these processes. That’s as good an answer as any to the question, “Why is sleep so important?”
#2 Benefits for Your Body
The saying “The early bird catches the worm” might be true, but we could also say, “The well-rested bird catches the worm.” Scientists have discovered multiple links between quality sleep and your body’s physical health.5
Even if you’re not a morning person, a good night’s sleep can help your body feel refreshed and re-energized.5 But as far as physical benefits go, that’s only the beginning.
Other bodily benefits of restful sleep include:
- Weight management – There’s no scientific consensus on how sleep quality relates to healthy body weight. However, we do know that sleeping well can help your body regulate its hunger hormones and help your metabolism function properly. Keeping these regulatory processes working well can be especially important for people wishing to manage their weight.
- Improved physicality – Many athletes, value their sleep health as much as their diets, and there’s a good reason for that. Studies show that restful sleep can boost your performance, improve reaction times, and strengthen your coordination.6 The effects might not be so dramatic for non-athletes, but the higher energy and alertness you experience can make a solid start to any day (especially when it comes to your morning workouts).
- Cardiovascular health – From high blood pressure to a higher risk of heart attack, studies show that a lack of healthy sleep can put you at greater risk for heart problems.7 On the flip side, healthy sleep can help you maintain a healthy heart.
- Regulation of hormones – While you’re asleep, your brain sends out important instructions to guide your hormones along their paths throughout your body. Since your hormones can affect things like stress levels and growth, not being able to complete their circuit can lead to a slew of physical and mental problems.8 With plenty of REM sleep, however, your brain has all the time it needs to guide your hormones to their destinations.
#3 Maintaining Your Mind
If you’ve ever had to complete a difficult task after a sleepless night (or even struggled with a fairly simple task), you might know how important good sleep can be for your productivity and focus.7 As it turns out, sleep can impact your mental capacity in other ways, too.
Here are just a few ways adequate sleep can help you maintain your mind:
- Learning capacity – Late-night cramming sessions can seem like a rite of passage for students, but quality sleep is important for learning, too. Sleep gives your hippocampus—the brain’s temporary storage unit—a much-needed break and helps you process new information, both processes that can recharge your learning ability.9
- Recall and memory – Once we learn something new, we usually hope to retain that information. Luckily, sound snoozing can improve both your short-term recall and your long-term memory.9 It essentially serves as a time for memories to form and stick.
- Creative and critical thinking – According to some studies, well-rested people tend to come up with more creative solutions to problems and have an easier time thinking critically.9 Not bad tradeoffs for a restful night.
#4 Emotional Wellness
Feeling more awake, alert, and energetic after a night of fantastic disrupted sleep can provide a big boost to your mood. But studies show that quality sleep can also help your emotional well-being.
Here’s why adequate sleep matters for your emotional health:
- Emotional control – Studies suggest that when you’re sleep deprived, it can lead to a malfunctioning amygdala—the part of your brain that helps to regulate emotions. Without a properly functioning amygdala, you might find it more difficult to deal with negative emotions like anger and aggression, leading to emotional outbursts. On the other hand, the study found that people who slept well were better able to manage their emotions.10
- A stronger sense of empathy – Research has also found that quality sleep can help you better understand the emotions of others.11 In the study, well-rested participants were better able to pick up on the emotional cues of others, such as facial expressions and body language. These cues, in turn, could help you have better empathy and emotional awareness.
How to Improve Your Quality of Sleep
Ensuring you get enough sleep means you can claim all the physical, mental, and emotional health benefits sleep can uniquely provide. But what if your sleep could use some improvement?
Luckily, there are sleep hacks to help you wake up on the right side of the bed (even if you sleep on the left). Here are a few ways how to sleep better:
- Use the right mattress – If you’ve ever struggled to snooze on a less-than-comfortable mattress, you might know how important they can be for your quality of sleep. Look for a mattress brand that offers a range of supportive options with features to support your sleep positions, cooling, and airflow, like those from Casper.
- Speak with your doctor or psychiatrist – If you need help improving your sleep, a doctor or psychiatrist can offer excellent resources and support. A doctor might prescribe sleep-related medication, or help diagnose any sleep disorders you may have. Meanwhile, a mental health professional can help you discover and address any psychological or mental health-related reasons why you might struggle to sleep.
- Fine-tune your habits and surroundings – Do you know how many pillows should you sleep with? Do you have a set lights-out time? Are you avoiding caffeine and social media before bed? Is your cozy bed environment conducive to peaceful nights, such as good lighting and a quiet atmosphere? All of these things and more can help you to level up your quality of rest, and may even help you fall asleep more easily in the first place.
How Much Sleep Do You Need, Anyway?
Quality sleep also means getting enough sleep, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the same amount for everyone. Ever notice how babies can snooze with the best of them, but adults get by on far fewer Zs? That’s because younger people still have a lot of growing to do, and they need more sleep to do it.12
So, how much sleep do you need? According to the CDC, the amount of sleep you need can vary depending on your age.13 Here’s how much they recommend:
- Newborns (0-3 months): 14-17 hours
- Infants (4-12 months): 12-16 hours
- Toddler (1-2 years): 11-14 hours
- Preschooler (3-5 years): 10-13 hours
- School Age (6-12 years): 9-12 hours
- Teen (13-18 years): 8-10 hours
- Adult (18-60 years): 7+ hours
- Adult (61-64 years): 7-9 hours
- Adult (65+): 7-8 hours
Of course, these ranges can still vary based on any number of personal and biological factors. The most important thing to keep in mind is how much sleep you need. Visit your doctor if you’re having trouble finding your slumbering sweet spot.
Find the Best Sleep of Your Life with Casper
Now you understand the reasons why sleep is important to everyone. But when you’re trying to find more shut-eye, knowing where to go for more sleep support isn’t always easy. But there’s one place you can rely on for a softer, more supportive rest.
At Casper, we believe everyone deserves the benefits of quality sleep. That’s why we make it our mission to provide everything you need for restful nights, from mattresses and bed frames to non-disruptive night lights.
Have other sleep-related questions? Reach out to one of our sleep experts and discover your best sleep ever with Casper.
Sources:
- Sleep Foundation. Why Do We Need Sleep? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/why-do-we-need-sleep
- News in Health. Good Sleep for Good Health. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/04/good-sleep-good-health
- Healthline. What Is the Purpose of Sleep? https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-we-sleep
- New in Health. The Benefits of Slumber. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2013/04/benefits-slumber
- Sleep Foundation. Why Is Sleep Important to Weight Loss? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/weight-loss-and-sleep
- Sleep.org. How Sleep Affects Athlete’s Performance. https://www.sleep.org/how-sleep-works/how-sleep-affects-athletes/
- Sleep Foundation. Sleep Deprivation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation
- Primary Care Collaborative. Sleep and Mental Health: Why Our Brains Need Sleep. https://www.pcpcc.org/resource/sleep-and-mental-health-why-our-brains-need-sleep
- University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Chronobiology and Sleep Institute. The Impact of Sleep on Learning and Memory. https://www.med.upenn.edu/csi/the-impact-of-sleep-on-learning-and-memory.html
- Cureus. The Amygdala, Sleep Debt, Sleep Deprivation, and the Emotion of Anger: A Possible Connection? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6122651/
- Journal of Sleep Research. The effects of sleep deprivation on emotional empathy. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.12192
- Sleep Foundation. How Much Sleep Do We Really Need? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How Much Sleep Do I Need? https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html
