The Importance of Healthy Sleep

Want to know how to sleep better? You’re not alone.

We’re not sleeping enough, and it’s killing us.

As a nation, we’re the most exhausted, overworked, under-rested bunch in history. It’s bad for our health, for our looks, and for our work performance.

In fact, 70 million US adults suffer from sleep loss every day. We spend over $66 billion on sleep medication, devices, and clinical visits, and fractured sleep time costs over $411 billion every year.

Worse, cheating sleep will not give you a long and healthy life. The overwhelming body of scientific sleep research shows sleep loss promotes cardiovascular disease, dementia, and death.

But we can’t just work less, “have less stress,” and meditate two hours a day. That would be wonderful and practical if we were rich like Gwyneth Paltrow.

The good news? We can take steps to fix sleep problems, but there’s no one-size fits-all solution. The real cure for all those 3 am angst sessions is pinpointing the exact cause of your sleeplessness, then taking a targeted approach.

In this article, we’ll look at the many causes of sleep loss that torpedo work performance, health, and productivity. We’ll see fixes from apps to medications to sleep tips used by Navy SEALs to fall asleep in seconds. In the process, we’ll hear from bona fide sleep experts who’ve helped millions get the deep, restful sleep patterns we crave and need.

Why do we need to switch our brains off 8 hours every night? Sleep time lets us rest, restore, repair, and it may even keep our brains young and “plastic.” Understanding the importance of sleep is a key step in knowing how to sleep better.

• Brain plasticity. NFL great Tom Brady chalks up a lot of his success to “brain plasticity.” That’s the idea that a brain can get “stiff”—like an unused muscle. Brady uses brain games to boost plasticity, but Harvard Medical school research shows knowing how to sleep better can improve focus, learning, mood, and decision-making ability.
• Restoration. Human and animal studies show sleep restores, rejuvenates, and repairs our minds and bodies. Animals deprived of sleep entirely die in a matter of weeks when their immune systems collapse. Sleep aids tissue repair and muscle growth. It also clears the brain of amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer’s patients.

• Energy conservation. During sleep time, our metabolisms drop. In the modern world, plentiful food supplies make that less of a survival matter and more a carbon footprint issue. In short, 8 billion people who never slept would consume the planet’s resources at a faster rate.

• Safety. Researchers once thought of sleep as a safety issue. Sleeping in the dark may have kept us safe from nighttime predators like tigers. This theory has been discredited because it would be safer to stay still and conscious than to fall asleep.

The Dangers of Losing Sleep

Why is sleep important? When you don’t sleep, the world becomes a living nightmare. Things that seem petty in daylight turn monstrous. Worse, you know without sleep you’ll be less-well equipped to solve those problems when the sun comes up.

But you’re not alone. 70 million Americans suffer from sleeplessness every night. The costs of poor sleep patterns hit us at work, in our wallets, in our private lives, and in our health. Here are six big reasons to focus on how to sleep better.

1. $411 Billion Financial Cost

How important is sleep to the economy? According to Rand corporation research, we lose 2–3% of global GDP to sleeplessness. That’s $411 billion in lost productivity in the US alone. But even small changes to our sleep habits could have a massive impact. If everyone slept at least six hours a night, we’d add an estimated $226.4 billion to the US economy.

2. Lost Productivity

Why is sleep important? People in the US lose 1.2 million work days per year from lack of sleep time. Supervisors spend 5.3 weeks a year dealing with absences. A single absence on the team makes a supervisor 15.7% less productive. Co-workers get 30% less work done when one person is out sick.

3. Sleep Loss Wrecks Careers

How important is sleep to your career? Regularly missing sleep slashes concentration, reaction time, memory, and decision-making power. It crushes your interpersonal skills one of the biggest determinants of career success.

Lack of sleep also causes accidents. Sleep loss was a contributing factor in disasters like the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown, the Exxon Valdez Oil spill, and the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion. In fact, tired workers are similar to drunk employees for motor function, speech, memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. Fatigue causes an estimated 100,000 car crashes per year.

Plus, as we move up the company ladder, we get both more responsibility, and less sleep. The average senior manager and CEO get 25% less sleep time than the populace at large.

4. It Wrecks Your Health

Want to live a long and healthy life? Learn how to sleep better. People who sleep less than six hours a night have a 13% higher chance of dying.What should really keep you up at night though (pun intended) is the variety ways sleep loss wrecks your health. Here’s a rundown:

• Heart disease. How important is sleep to your heart? Short sleepers put themselves at a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Poor sleep patterns could be as dangerous to your heart as smoking.
• Diabetes. Obesity and type 2 diabetes are linked to short sleep duration. Possibly because short sleepers eat more high-carb foods.
• Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Cheat sleep, and your brain may suffer. “The brain needs deep REM sleep to prevent Alzheimer's disease,” says sleep expert Walter Gaman, MD, of Executive Medicine of Texas. Alzheimer’s disease is linked to the buildup of amyloid protein in the brain. Shockingly, even one night of missed sleep causes a 5% jump in brain amyloid.
• Sex drive. Need another reason to learn how to sleep better? Sleep deprivation causes sexual dysfunction as the brain suppresses sex hormones. That’s worse in women than in men.
• Depression. Studies show over two-thirds of depression patients suffer from a sleep disorder. Insomniacs are four times more likely to develop depression if their sleep problems aren’t addressed. Poor sleep is also linked to bipolar disorder, anxiety, and ADHD.
• Unhealthy skin. Beauty sleep—it’s real! Lack of sleep time can lead to skin malnourishment, breakouts, dark circles, and eye bags. Want to look older fast? Just stop getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night.
• Inflammation. The new watchword for all our health woes is “inflammation.” It’s the trigger for just about every health baddie in our lives—from heart disease to dementia to cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Sleep loss creates inflammatory cytokines that throw our bodies out of whack.
• Poor immune system. Sleep boosts your immune system. How? When we don’t sleep enough, we’re more likely to get sick. Also, if you’re sick, a good night’s rest will help you beat it faster.

The grain of salt. The “good” news? Sleeping too long has also been associated with nearly every health risk in this list. In short, there’s a sweet spot—your sleep schedule should be 7–9 hours every day.

5. Sleep Loss Wrecks Relationships

How important is sleep to your love life? Not getting enough sleep wrecks marriages and friendships. According to neurologist Chris Winter, author of The Sleep Solution, sleepless people talk to their partners less and help out less with household chores.

Why is sleep important to relationships? Poor sleepers feel sadder and angrier—not conducive to romance. Fractured sleep patterns can even contribute to divorce. The upside? Married people know how to sleep better. That gives them a leg up on their single peers.

6. Sleep Sharpens Your Mind and Heart

When you hear about people waking up from sleep with an answer to an unsolved problem or an idea for a new invention, you can thank REM sleep time. “During REM, the brain consolidates memories,” says sleep expert Dr. Kasey Nichols. “That means it converts new experiences into long-term memories.”

Sleep also smooths out our emotions. “REM sleep allows your amygdala to process negative emotions, in particular, fear and stress,” says Nichols. Less REM sleep can cause negative memories to pile up, which can spark depression.