5 Reasons to Monitor Your Sleep
Everybody loves a good night of rest. Sleep is an important part of anyone’s daily life. Sleep helps the brain relax and refreshes the body. It is also important to bodily functions like the kidneys and heart.
But not everyone is able to get a good night’s sleep. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke estimates 20 million people in the United States suffer from occasional problems associated with not getting enough sleep, and 40 million Americans are afflicted with some type of sleep disorder.
That is why conducting a sleep study can improve your health and quality of life. Here are 5 reasons why you should be monitoring your sleep:
1) Determine if you have a sleep disorder
A sleep study is the most important step you can take to determine if you have a sleep disorder. The study will monitor your heart rate and other vital functions while you sleep. It’s not difficult. The data is collected during your sleep over a single night or a period of nights. You or someone else must analyze the data and determine if your sleeping patterns deviate from the norm. You will then conclude whether you suffer from a sleep disorder. This is the first step to solving the problem. Once a diagnosis is made, you are one step closer to a solution. Learn how you can perform an in-home sleep study here.
2) Your health is worth it
A sleep study will help you understand more about your sleeping patterns. You owe it to yourself to find the right information and solve any sleep problems that you have. Researchers have found a direct correlation between happiness and the amount of sleep you get. The study found that sleep was more connected to happiness than education, age, and income.
Also, people who sleep well are less likely to have heart disease and other major health problems. During sleep, chemicals are activated that keep a person’s blood pressure and heart rate lower. With the proper amount of sleep, you are more likely to be healthy and happy.
3) Your partner is impacted by a sleep disorder
You are not the only one who is impacted by a sleep disorder. Snoring and sleep apnea can interrupt your partners’ sleep. You shouldn’t be selfish. You should learn ways to alleviate a sleep disorder and help the person you love. That is because sleep problems can impact other areas of a relationship. You might fight with your partner more if he or she is not rested. You want to have a healthy relationship, and that means sleeping well together.
4) Feeling refreshed
With the information from a sleep study, you will find ways to sleep better and be more refreshed. Healthy sleep is an important part of being alert at work and functioning well in the world. Sleep is also associated with memory. You will remember more and will be quicker on your feet after a good night’s rest. You can make that great presentation at work or close the deal with a new client.
5) Reduce risk of Alzheimer’s
A healthy night’s sleep is important to brain and cognitive functions. You will be able to process information more quickly and able to adapt to new situations. There is research that suggests that a lack of sleep increases the chance of getting Alzheimer’s. A study showed that even a few extra hours of sleep a night could significantly reduce your chances of getting the disease.
“[I]nducing sleep also reverses memory defects in a Drosophila model of Alzheimer’s disease,” the authors of the latest study wrote. “Together, these data demonstrate that sleep plays a more fundamental role in modulating behavioral plasticity than previously appreciated and suggest that increasing sleep may benefit patients with certain neurological disorders.”
Are you ready to take control of your sleep and improve your quality of life?
Learn more about the Plex® Sleep Scanner home monitoring system and Somnology’s mobile app SomnologyMobileDoc and begin gathering useful data on your sleeping behavior to help identify sleep disorders. Share the information with your sleep physician for further treatment.
