Three good reasons to not skip out on sleep

When it’s time to adopt a live-well lifestyle, the two topics that are likely to come to mind first are exercise and nutrition, but there’s a third, equally important component: rest.

Like eating and breathing, sleeping is an essential part of living. You’ve probably heard a lot about how much sleep you need—typically 7 to 8 hours a day for adults. But the quality of your sleep matters, too. So, what exactly is considered a good night’s rest? and how can sleeping well help your body and mind?

Defining a good night’s rest

The National Sleep Foundation put together a panel whose mission was to define quality sleep. The panel included people trained in sleep medicine, as well as representatives from organizations like the American Academy of Neurology and the Society for Women’s Health Research.

The panel identified 4 key markers of a good night’s rest. Solid shuteye means:

It takes you no more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.

You don’t wake up more than once in a night.

If you do wake up, it takes you no more than 20 minutes to fall back asleep.

When you are in bed, you spend more than 85 percent of your time sleeping.

Sleeping well in today’s demanding, fast-paced society can be a challenge. Ongoing research shows it’s worth the effort, though. Here are 3 reasons to put sleep at the top of your to-do list:

It can boost your immune system

If you are struggling for shuteye, you are more likely to become sick. Ever wonder why? In a recent study, researchers may have found the answer. They looked at the sleep patterns of a small group of twins.

Each twin set had one twin who slept, on average, 60 minutes less than the other. The researchers took blood samples from the study participants. After looking at the blood, they were able to see how parts of the immune system—specifically the white blood cells—didn’t work as well in the child who usually slept less than their brother or sister.

It can improve your memory, even as you age

We tend to forget more as we grow older. Research has proven that a good night’s rest may help save some of your memory. Results of 18 separate sleep studies that measured thinking skills and length of sleep in older adults indicated that sleeping too little or even too much can affect how well your mind works, especially your memory.

It may lower your risk for many diseases

Over time, not sleeping enough may affect your overall health and can lead to serious diseases. One recent study of more than 25,000 people found a lack of sleep may be linked to cancer.

Those in the study who said they worked the night shift for more than 20 years were about 25 percent more likely to develop the disease in their lifetime. Other past research has suggested too little sleep for too long may raise your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression.

So, Ben Franklin may have been on the money with that whole, “early to bed and early to rise,” notion. By all means, eat healthy and get active, but don’t forget to get your rest too.

Tifani Kinard is the Hospital Administrator and Chief Nursing Officer of Floyd Polk Medical Center.