7 Surprising Sleep Benefits

Sleep helps facilitate many of the brain's natural functions, such as processing information and forming memories. Each sleep stage allows our bodies to continue functioning properly and boosts our immune system to keep us healthy.

What are the sleep stages?

When you are asleep, your body typically cycles through stages of sleep. The duration of these stages vary, and are repeated throughout the night.

• Stage 1: Non-Rem Sleep

  This stage is essentially the "dozing off" stage. During this time, the body is starts to, but is not fully relaxed. This is also where brain activity begins to slow down and we experience bouts of brief movements (twitches).

• Stage 2: Non-Rem Sleep

  In this stage, your body temperature drops, and your breathing and heart rate slow down. During the night, this is where you spend most of the time sleeping.

• Stage 3: Non-Rem Sleep

  This stage is also known as deep sleep. This where your breathing rate decreases and the body relaxes even more. It is typically harder to be woken up in this stage.

• Stage 4: REM Sleep

  In this stage, you start to experience rapid eye movement (REM). Your brain activity increases to levels similar to when you are awake. Your heart rate and breathing speed up, and dreaming often happens in this stage. This stage is also instrumental to information processing, learning, and memory.

The 7 Benefits

1. Improves Exercise

When you exercise regularly, sleep can be vital to your body's ability to recover. Getting 7-9 hours per night, allows your body enough time to repair the damage done to your muscles during your workouts. This maximizes your performance, leading to much more effective sessions. For most people, failure to get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep can have the opposite effect in the gym. Lack of proper recovery can contribute to joint pain, head and body aches, more ineffective workouts.

2. Appetite Control

A good night's sleep promotes a balanced production of the hormones that regulate hunger. Two of those hormones are Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin, which is also known as the "hunger hormone", increases appetite while Leptin regulates your body's energy and decreases feelings of hunger. Not getting enough sleep disrupts this balance, which often leads to increased ghrelin levels and lower leptin levels.

3. Fights Migraines

For people who suffer from migraines, there are certain triggers that make symptoms worse. Studies have shown that having a balanced sleep schedule over time helps alleviate these symptoms and could decrease the frequency of migraine attacks. Consistency plays a large role in the overall migraine alleviation because changes in sleep patterns can make symptoms worse. If you suffer from consistent migraines, you should consult your doctor.

4. Improves Creativity

Recent sleep studies suggest that a good night's rest can help your brain consolidate and strengthen memories. This is critical to overall brain function because it uses stored memories for pattern recognition, learning and problem-solving.

5. Fights Depression

Over a long period of time, the combination of stress, anxiety and poor sleep can cause a sleep disorder like insomnia. This can increase your chances of developing a mental illness such as anxiety or depression. A good night's rest promotes a balanced brain chemistry, which improves your ability to think critically and manage stress.

6. Improves Heart Health

Getting enough sleep allows your heart to rest and slow down, which allows your blood vessels to relax and lower your blood pressure. People who consistently get less than 6 hours of sleep per day can see an increase in these numbers, which also raises their risk of stroke and heart disease. Doctors recommend managing a balanced sleep schedule as part of an overall wellness program.

7. Boosts Immunity

Studies show that individuals who consistently get less than the recommended amount of sleep are more likely to get sick when exposed to a virus. Lack of sleep prevents your body from producing infection-fighting antibodies, which affects your ability to quickly respond to harmful bacteria.