REASONS WHY SLEEP SHOULD COME BEFORE BAE!

Seriously, i know some guys that would gladly give up natures call once there's drink, sexy irresistible girls, and 2days of clubbing!

In Lagos especially, we are so engrossed in our daily activities and run after cash like those adrenaline-pumped hounds with numbers that we bet on, regardless of the signals our bodies show us to say, 'Hey men, cool down!'  

Physical rest repairs and rebuilds the body and mind. When we exert ourselves physically or mentally, we long for the restoration of our energy. Researchers have shown that both the physical stress of manual labor and even the emotional stress of a desk job require subsequent rest for the body and mind to recuperate.

Many of us need more rest; we live in a culture that forfeits rest to chronic overwork. Studies have shown that the average individual doesn’t get nearly enough sleep for what their body requires to function at peak performance

Not only do different age groups need different amounts of sleep, but sleep needs are also individual. Just like any other characteristics you are born with, the amount of sleep you need to function best may be different for you than for someone who is of the same age and gender. While you may be at your absolute best sleeping seven hours a night, someone else may clearly need nine hours to have a happy, productive life. My friends Dr Orungbeja and Dr Adenuga need only about 3 hours per day. I dont know how they do it. Lol.(I'm sure they make up for it as power-naps ... which are very important by the way).

Another reason why there is “no magic number” for your sleep results from two different factors that researchers are learning about: a person’s basal sleep need – (the amount of sleep our bodies need on a regular basis for optimal performance) and secondly, sleep debt (the accumulated sleep that is lost to poor sleep habits, sickness, awakenings due to environmental factors or other causes). Two studies suggest that healthy adults have a basal sleep need of seven to eight hours every night, but where things get complicated is the interaction between the basal need and sleep debt. For instance, you might meet your basal sleep need on any single night or a few nights in a row, but still have an unresolved sleep debt that may make you feel more sleepy and less alert at times, particularly in conjunction with circadian dips , those times in the 24-hour cycle when we are biologically programmed to be more sleepy and less alert, such as overnight hours and mid-afternoon.

Our minds are barraged with input from 5 senses, as well as constantly suffering from usage from thoughts, logic, creativity, and memories. While we sleep, our mind is finally able to ‘defragment’ itself (to put it in computer terms), and take what’s in short term memory, and place it into long-term memory, or discard it altogether if it deems it unimportant to you.

Another theory is that every moment we move, we stress our systems. At night, while we sleep, our bodies finally get the chance to rebuild itself. Our bodies are assaulted at every instance by poisons, bacteria, viruses, and infections, and during the day, we spend our immune system’s resources fighting them. While we sleep, we are able to ‘restock’ for tomorrow’s assault. It is also worthy to note that we should make conscious effort to sleep at a particular time 'everyday' ... this increases the quality of your sleep.

Sleep is an often overlooked essential for optimal health and well-being. Yet millions of people do not get enough sleep and many suffer from lack of sleep. The results of recent surveys reveal that at several million individuals suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders and over 50% percent of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more. Most of those with these problems go undiagnosed and untreated.