Sleep is the perfect form of rest available to human beings and is essential for health. Individuals who are unable to sleep well suffer ill-health and get tired easily. Sleep helps in removing the waste matter, which is constantly being formed in the body, repairing the tissues, and making available a fresh supply of oxygen.
Our deep immune responses are most active during our periods of sleep. This is one of the reasons why you tend to get sleepy when you are sick or getting sick. Your body is trying to activate its full immune response to combat the disease agents!
Benefits of sleep
a. sleep helps in resting, refreshing, feeding, and repairing the cells of the body
b. sleep allows the body to recover from the effects of physical and mental fatigue resulting from the day’s work
c. sleep helps in restoring and clarifying the mind thereby aiding full physical and mental development
d. sleep aids nutrition thereby building a healthy body which is resistant to diseases
Symptoms of lack of, or poor, sleep
– Paleness, anxiety, poor carriage, touchiness, loss of initiative, drowsiness, day-dreaming, and dizziness.
– Exhaustion, which may lead to an accident
– Poor general health, mental tension, depression
– Muscular weakness and inability to concentrate
– Lowered perseverance
– Visual distortion
– Mental/Emotional disturbance
If these symptoms are allowed to persist unabated, the body could be damaged, sometimes, even beyond repair! Your body is a special gift from God and He does not expect you to do anything to (negatively) tamper with it.
A recent study published in a sleep journal asserts that persons who sleep for less than 6 hours or more than 8 hours a day are liable to die before their time. That is how important sleep can be!
I wouldn’t drop my pen without letting you know that some people find it difficult to sleep for certain reasons or as they get older. If those people can do the things I’m recommending below, they will obtain help:
1. exercise or get engaged in hard work during the day
2. avoid stimulants like coffee, Nescafe, cola nut or any caffeine-containing drink
3. drink a glass of warm milk or milk with honey before going to bed
4. if you still cannot sleep, try taking an antihistamine like Phenergan or Dramamine half an hour before going to bed.
Beloved, please try to always (deliberately) sleep well each day, no matter how engaged or busy you think you are!