8 Ways to improve your sleep (and life)

After a rough night of being awake, how often do you struggle to do anything afterward? Don’t worry – it’s normal. Sleeping less than what your body needs at a minimum causes you to lack motivation. Anything you will have to do will be (very likely) heavily procrastinated. Thus, you often do less than usual. Your body will likely ask for what it has been missing – rest. Maybe it’s the perfect time to use the day for napping and wrap it up as an excuse that you are doing a favor to your body (because you really are).

But even if you have some critical tasks that cannot be pushed back, the lack of sleep will make it hard to concentrate. This is why you always hear the advice before an exam “Make sure you sleep well.” Otherwise, your brain will not function up to its potential, and you will be more likely to forget things. Your alertness and reaction time decline when you miss sleep. This means that working and doing your job will be more challenging if you neglect your resting time in bed.

But the lack of sleep will not only mess up with your job and daily chores but also with your personal life.

Do you know that your sex drive also changes if you are not getting enough sleep? This is due to the reduction of the sex hormones when not sleeping (properly). So yes, your libido can suffer too. Thus your partner as well.

But apart from your sex drive, your overall health declines too. And it makes sense. When you sleep, your body is doing everything to “repair” every cell that was damaged in any way. So, for example, by going to the gym and lifting weights, your muscles will receive minor damage (no worries, it will result in growth later) that your body will try to fix overnight. But this goes only for your muscles. What about stress and other stuff? Yes, your body takes care of that too while you sleep. Your hormones regulate. Your brain is recharging. Your skin is regenerating. A lot of things happen that we are not simply aware of. But if we take away the sleep, our immune system starts to struggle. As a result, we are more likely to get sick, our body’s ability to fight off illness impairs.