The term “beauty sleep” was not coined for nothing. All beauty experts advise that sleep is important for healthy skin. Thebenefit of getting enough sleep is not strictly limited to the improvement of one’s physical appearance. It is such a vital part of our health and well-being that it is that we humans spend one-third of our lives sleeping.
We need sleep as much as we need food, water and oxygen. However, the amount of sleep necessary varies from individual to individual although generally younger people need it more than adults. Babies need about 16 hours of sleep per day, children until the age of 12 from 10-12 hours, teens 8-10 hours and grown-ups 6-8 hours. In other words, as we get older the amount of sleep we require decreases but only up to a certain point. When we become adults, the 6-8 hours of sleep becomes a permanent requirement. It stops decreasing from that point onwards. Unfortunately, the capacity to sleep continuously for 6-8 hours is influenced by different factors such as stress, caffeine consumption, nocturnal habits (such as TV watching), and sleeping conditions which are less than ideal. According to the British Sleep Society, more than 50% of adults suffer from sleep disorders with a large number of them experiencing daytime sleepiness that negatively affects their daily activities at least a few days each month.
There are a lot of age-related factors that trigger sleep problems which explains why the more we age, the more we experience sleep disorders. An adult with a job to keep and a family to raise has to constantly deal with stress as well as with other health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. It is when you sleep that your whole body undergoes regeneration. What happens during sleep is that most of your organs function at less than their full capacity. The body uses the energy it has in repairing tissues, healing muscles and processing the day’s events. For these reasons sleep is vital to your mental and physical health.
Sleep also greatly affects the ageing process. If you don’t get enough sleep, you have a tendency to age faster because your eyes take on a tired look with wrinkles and eye bags; your skin will become dull and dry; and your muscles will begin to atrophy.
As always, nature offers the best things for free and sleep is one of them. If you want to stay youthful or simply want an overall boost to your health, don’t rob yourself of it. Get as much of it as you need.
