What Happens When We Sleep

We hear a lot about the importance of healthy eating and getting exercise. But getting a good night’s sleep is just as important - and the science backs it up. The consequences of not getting enough sleep are real - and a little scary.
The American Sleep Association shares that the following can result from not getting enough sleep:

• Decrease collagen in our bodies and make our skin age faster
  
• Cause weight gain through disrupting our circadian rhythm and making us more likely to make poor food choices (while also decreasing our chances of exercising)
  
• Stop our brain from storing events in our long-term memory
  
• Negatively impact our short-term memory causing us to be more forgetful or more likely to misplace something
  
• Make our immune systems weaker by decreasing the number of white T-cells that typically help in defending against getting a cold or the flu
  
• Cause injury to neurons that can slow reaction time and make it dangerous to operate cars and other machinery
  
• Create moodiness and irritability and negatively impact our social interactions and mental health
  
• Be a factor in developing more chronic and serious diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension
  

The list of things that happen when we don’t sleep sound scary! It can be so easy to forgo sleep when it feels like we don’t have enough time in the day to get things done. By remembering the vital role that sleep plays in our physical and mental health we can choose to prioritize sleep in order to prioritize a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep
https://www.sleepassociation.org/blog-post/happens-us-dont-get-enough-sleep/