5 ways sleep affects your brain

It is always a citation that sleep is the cure of all diseases, or sleep over it and it will vanish. So what kind of impact does sleep has on your body, brain, and soul. Sleep is essential in your life, and to prove these researchers have derived a lot of theories.

Some theories are evolutionary, while some are physiological and others are anecdotal. It is believed that the brain shuts down when you are asleep. But that is not the fact. For that matter, the brain is in incredibly working mode

It is a proven fact that sleep does have an effect on your brain and deprivation of it does have repercussions on your body.

So following are the ways how sleep affects your brain or precisely what the brain does while your body is fast asleep:

  1. Memory Improvement

This is the most important function of the brain to retain memories for a long. And this is done while you are asleep by strengthening neural connections and cutting through the unwanted ones of your routine. So to have a good and focused memory it is important to have a good night sleep

Studies have proved that the brain nails down both negative and positive memories during sleep. And this may become harmful if you are more surrounded by negativity and it may lead to depression also

While lack of sleep may affect long term and short term memory and consistent inadequate sleep may also lead to Alzheimer and dementia

  1. Release of toxins

The research has discovered that the brain clears toxins faster when you are sleeping than when you are awake. It states that when we are sleeping the lymphatic system is open thoroughly and the cells of the brain expand dominantly. This ensures that the β- amyloid protein is released through cerebrospinal fluid. These unwanted toxins and proteins collect during the day and the brain assists them in clearing while you sleep at the night.

  1. Creativity

When you require standardized tests, correct decision and answer, convergent thinking, innovative and imaginative ways, out of the box thinking, or divergent thinking, all that you need is sound sleep. Studies have proved time and again the fluent, flexible, and original thinking comes from those people always who have sound sleep habits

Sleep stimulates brain activity and promotes dreams, thus sleep awakens and encourages creativity.

  1. Physical and mental health

Depression and anxiety and problems of sleep are like two wheels of a vehicle. We have often observed people suffering from depression buy zopiclone, a sleeping pill to have a sound sleep. Such people either sleep more than eight hours or lesser than six hours regularly and fall for depression. The circadian rhythm of the brain or in simple language the sleep-wake cycle is disrupted badly for people who don’t sleep for six to eight hours daily. And this causes depression and anxiety

Several physical disorders and diseases are also observed in people with bad sleep problems. This affects the heart badly with high contractility of heart, heart rate, blood pressure. It also affects cortisol which is the stress hormone and also the thyroid hormone.

Poor sleeping habits are also linked to glucose control, obesity, overweight, diabetes, inflammation, etc. The central nervous system has the greatest impact of sleep deprivation

  1. Productivity and focus

The charging or recharging function of the brain does best when we sleep. And this in turn boosts your focus and productivity towards work. A bad night’s sleep would make you lazy and thus you would like to take shortcuts for completing the work. This is the reason it is always recommended to sleep well before a long day of work, projects, or tests, and examinations.

When the brain has its own share of rest it makes you more energetic and active and eventually more productive and focused. This successfully achieved productivity ensures self-confidence and better mental health.

Good sleep hygiene practices

An interesting fact about sleep is that its requirements change according to your age. The toddlers need the most hours of sleep while by age it goes on reducing and at the old age it’s the least. However, it may differ from person to person

When in trouble with sleep try to follow the following hygiene habits it helps to a great extent

  • Naptime should not exceed twenty minutes
  • Nicotine and caffeine should be avoided at the time of sleep
  • Exercise to burst endorphins
  • Regular and consistent sleep routine
  • Pleasant environment

Conclusion

The studies have proved the connection between brain and body in numerous research. Thus it is rightly said that sleep is a necessity and not a luxury. With prolong deprivation of sleep the brain will start rebelling. So it is important to inculcate good habits for good sleep