The Benefits of Quality Sleep: How to Get the Rest You Need

Getting a good night's sleep is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Learn about the benefits of quality sleep and how to get the rest you need.

The Benefits of Quality Sleep: How to Get the Rest You Need

Our mission is to provide quality mattresses at an affordable price. We offer a 1 year price match guarantee. Getting a good night's sleep is essential for overall health and wellbeing. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is believed to enable critical cognitive abilities, including memory consolidation, but non-REM sleep, even with reduced brain activity, is also believed to play a role in facilitating proper brain function while awake.

When sleeping, the body undergoes a series of changes that allow for the rest that is vital to overall health. Dreams that occur during non-REM sleep and REM sleep tend to show different patterns, with REM dreams often being more fanciful, immersive or bizarre. In the early stages of non-REM sleep, brain waves slow down considerably; however, in stages 2 and 3, there are many rapid bursts of brain activity. This is why it is essential to get seven to nine hours of sleep for adults, and even more for children and adolescents. People with hypersomnia often experience excessive daytime sleepiness and may have difficulty staying awake when they need to. People with insomnia have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep for as long as they want to, which means they do not get enough sleep.

For example, after not getting enough sleep, people often experience a rebound from REM sleep, spending a disproportionate amount of time in REM sleep. What happens when you don't sleep is that these fundamental processes are short-circuited, affecting thinking, concentration, energy levels and mood. When you have sleep problems, you may not get the restorative benefits that come from what normally happens during sleep. Muscles gradually relax during each stage of non-REM sleep, and the body's total energy expenditure decreases. Studies indicate that hypersomnia is associated with changes in sleep architecture, such as a reduction in deep sleep and an increase in NREM sleep, which may affect overall sleep quality.

Although the biological role of sleep is not yet fully understood, research shows that it strengthens the cardiovascular and immune systems and helps regulate metabolism. While breathing and heart rate increase during REM sleep, most muscles are paralysed, preventing us from acting on those vivid dreams. Sleep allows the brain and body to slow down and perform recovery processes, which promotes better physical and mental performance the next day and in the long term.

Lena Dubler
Lena Dubler

Amateur analyst. Typical travel geek. Proud social media expert. Hipster-friendly travel buff. Avid coffee evangelist.

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