5 benefits of a good night’s sleep

ARTICLE

1 July 2024

5 min read

From managing emotions to resetting energy, we explore five of the best things a good night’s sleep can do for your body and mind.

Have you ever lost concentration at work, craved more salty or sweet foods than normal, or felt uncoordinated at the gym? Last night’s sleep might be the culprit.

It’s easy to think of sleep as a passive part of health and wellbeing: it’s a time to rest and recharge so you can wake up refreshed. But rather than nodding off like you do, your body stays busy, working hard to support your mental and physical health while it cycles through its several stages of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM), which itself includes three stages of light and deep sleep, and rapid eye movement (REM), when you do most of your vivid dreaming¹.

Sleep affects almost every system in the body – from your metabolism to your heart, mood, and immune function². Since you spend about one-third of your time doing it, it’s worth knowing why sleep matters – and how you can set yourself up to get good-quality rest, night after night.

Sleep helps you manage mood

There’s a reason the saying “sleep on it” exists. Good sleep helps you more easily deal with the pressures of daily life.

If you’ve ever had a bad night’s sleep, you’ll know how you can feel the next day: irritable, impatient, less excited about good things, and more likely to overreact. Sleep gives the brain a chance to regulate stress hormones³ like cortisol, a key player in the sleep-wake cycle. There’s even evidence that dreaming (which occurs mostly in the REM stage of sleep) helps the brain triage good emotions from negative ones⁴.

On the flipside, studies show that a sleepless night can mean up to a 30% rise in levels of anxiety⁵. Without sleep, the part of the brain that controls anxiety, known as the medial prefrontal cortex, completely shuts down, while emotional hotspots in other parts of the brain run free.

Speaking of cortisol, its connection with sleep goes both ways: your mood throughout the day can also affect how easily you nod off, and stay asleep, at night. While the body naturally raises its cortisol levels in the morning to help you wake up, a stressful day or constant anxiety can lead to high cortisol levels at night, which can keep you alert and awake and perpetuate poor sleep⁶.

Earn AIA Vitality Points for sleeping soundly

If you wear your fitness tracker when you hit the hay, you can earn 10 AIA Vitality Points a night for getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep (up to a maximum of 50 Points per week and 2,000 Points per membership year) as an AIA Vitality member.

Not only will this help you form healthy sleeping habits and feel in tip-top shape every morning, but the incorporation of meditation into your routine can further enhance these benefits.

When you snooze, you earn Points.

Sleep improves concentration and memory

On top of helping you maintain a positive mental state, sleep is essential for learning, fuelling growth at work, and holding onto memories.

Without sleep, we’re susceptible to lapses in attention, or ‘microsleeps’, that can mean we spend more time on tasks with poorer, erratic results⁷. This can be dangerous: according to the Australian Automobile Association, 20–30% of all car accidents in Australia can be attributed to fatigued drivers⁸. And in one study, doctors with high levels of sleep impairment were 96% more likely to report significant errors in their work⁹.

Good sleep, on the other hand, improves problem-solving skills. Chemical processes in the brain triage thoughts and ideas while you sleep, creating associations you aren’t able to see yourself when your executive function is switched on during the day¹⁰. It’s the reason you can wake up feeling completely settled on a decision even if you were struggling to see the best way forward the night before.

Alongside improving concentration and focus, sleep helps the brain process and store memories. In sleep, new memories, skills, and facts get organised into the brain’s archives, ready to be recalled years down the track¹¹. If you sleep too little, the brain doesn’t get enough time to store these new memories, which could mean you’re less likely to keep them for the future.

Sleep resets energy and recovery

If you want to wake up feeling refreshed, you need deep sleep.

It’s thought that the body does most of its restoration during what’s known as ‘deep sleep’, one of the three stages of non-REM sleep. While the heart, breath, and brain slow right down during this recovery phase, the body releases hormones to repair cells and support bone and muscle development.

It’s also when your body resets its stores of adenosine, an energy compound that builds up while you’re awake and helps you feel drowsy at the end of the day¹². If you don’t get enough sleep overnight, the level of adenosine won’t go down enough and you’ll wake up feeling tired.

Adenosine isn’t the only thing being reset overnight: recent research shows that deep sleep may also flush out end-of-day toxins that could play a role in the risk of brain degeneration and disorders¹³.

Sleep keeps your heart healthy

A good night’s sleep doesn’t just rest your mind and muscles – alongside a heart-healthy diet, it can play a crucial role in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

When you’re asleep, your heart rate and blood pressure go down, giving your heart a rest from the hard work it does during the day. If you don’t get enough sleep, your blood pressure stays higher for longer, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

In fact, more and more studies are connecting the dots between poor sleep and heart health problems – including one that suggests that trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, or sleeping less than six hours can triple the risk of heart disease¹⁴. On the other hand, a good night’s sleep could reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 65%¹⁵.

Sleep helps you maintain healthy weight

If you sleep more, you may eat less.

While the links between sleep and body weight are still being discovered, we know that sleep helps your body regulate the hormones that affect appetite and hunger. One study has shown that even a couple of days of disturbed sleep can alter your metabolism, making you feel less full after eating and changing the way your body processes fats¹⁶.

There’s also evidence that a lack of sleep stimulates the brain’s reward centres¹⁷, which might explain why it’s easier to reach for the convenient and tempting high-calorie food when you’re tired.

Encourage good decision-making by getting your recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night and establishing healthy sleeping habits, like regular physical activity and avoiding heavy meals before bed.

Quick tips to nod off

Listen to your body clock. Go to bed when you’re tired. In the morning, open the blinds to let the morning sun in as soon as you wake up.
Make your bedroom comfortable. Set a temperature of about 19°C and use earplugs and an eye mask if you have any noise or light pollution.
Write down worries and problems before you hit the pillow. Your brain will work its magic as you sleep, and you may even wake with a clear answer.
If you don’t fall asleep right away, get out of bed and do a stimulating task, like reading or doing a jigsaw puzzle.

Find more tips for a good night’s sleep here.

Footnotes
¹https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/sleep-categories/basics-of-sleep
²https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep³ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7202382/
⁴ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220513113237.htm
⁵ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191104124140.htm
⁶ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7045300/
⁷ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6143346/
⁸ https://www.aaa.asn.au/research/fatigued-driving/
⁹ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33284339/
¹⁰ https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/sleep-to-solve-a-problem-202105242463
¹¹ https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/want-to-improve-your-memory-get-a-good-nights-sleep-2021040222255
¹² https://medicine.yale.edu/internal-medicine/pulmonary/news/national-sleep-week/good-sleep-recipe/
¹³ https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/are-toxins-flushed-out-of-the-brain-during-sleep
¹⁴ https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/struggling-to-sleep-your-heart-may-pay-the-price-202203092701
¹⁵ https://www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au/news-and-articles/while-you-were-sleeping
¹⁶ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916114020.htm
¹⁷ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329320303438

Staff Writer

Staff writers come from a range of backgrounds including health, wellbeing, music, tech, culture and the arts. They spend their time researching the latest data and trends in the health market to deliver up-to-date information, helping everyday Australians live healthier lives. This is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances.

Disclaimer:
Copyright © 2024 AIA Australia Limited (ABN 79 004 837 861 AFSL 230043). This is general information only, without taking into account factors like the objectives, financial situation, needs or personal circumstances of any individual and is not intended to be financial, legal, tax, medical, nutritional, health, fitness or other advice. The source information of the articles is current as of the date of publication and may be subject to change. While the information contained herein is believed to be accurate, AIA Australia expressly disclaims any and all liability for representations or warranties, expressed or implied, contained in, or for omissions from, the information.

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