Article Top 10 Health Benefits of Sleep

The Benefits of Getting Enough Restful Sleep

Sleep makes every area of your health better!

Evidence from scientific research across all ages, genders, and backgrounds shows the duration, timing, and quality of sleep you get significantly impacts your physical health, mental health, performance, and safety.^¹

Regularly getting enough* restful sleep:

Makes it easier to cope with stress.^²,³

Moderates mood and emotional regulation, and is a key positive factor in mental health,^⁴reducing risk of anxiety, major depression, substance use disorders, and suicide.^⁵

Facilitates cognitive performance, working memory, and attention;^⁶ may help reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.^⁵

Is positively associated with healthy weight and body mass index (BMI).^⁷,⁸

Supports healthy glucose metabolism and helps regulate a healthy appetite and feelings of hunger and fullness.^⁹

Supports healthy immune system function and inflammatory response,^⁹,¹⁰reducing risk of bacterial and viral infections.^⁵

Reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease,^¹¹high blood pressure,^¹¹and stroke.^⁹

May reduce your risk of some cancers.^¹

Helps prevent accidents caused by fatigue, and impaired motor coordination, slowed reactions and judgment due to lack of sleep.^¹

Is positively associated with better health-related quality of life and reduces premature mortality risk.^¹²

What’s Enough Sleep?

Experts recommend healthy adults 18 – 64
get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night.^¹³

Stay focused and set sail with an emotionally even keel better equipped to ride life’s ups and downs.
And give your body what it needs to keep you healthy and safe in the face of stress.

All beginning with a bedtime that helps you rest and recharge at the end of every day.

Explore The Benefits of Regular Activity and Exercise, or return to A is for Activity, R is for Rest for all the subscriber-exclusive content resources for these two complementary letters of SMART!

1↑ Czeisler, C. A. PhD, MD, Duration, timing and quality of sleep are each vital for health, performance and safety. Sleep Health, Journal of the National Sleep Foundation, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2015, Pages 5 – 8. PMID: 29073414. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352721814000138?via%3Dihub, accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352721814000138?via%3Dihub

2↑ Hall, M. H. PhD, Casement, M.D. PhD, Troxel, W. M. PhD, Matthews, K.A. PhD, Bromberger, J. T. PhD, Kravitz, H. M. DO, MPH, Krafty, R. T. PhD, Buysse, D. J. MD, Chronic Stress is Prospectively Associated with Sleep in Midlife Women: The SWAN Sleep Study. Sleep, Volume 38, Issue 10, 1 October 2015, Pages 1645 – 1654. PMID: 26039965, PMCID: PMC4576339. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/10/1645/2468607, accessed February 13, 2020. https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/38/10/1645/2468607

3↑ Allen, S. F., Akram, U., Ellis, J. G., Examination of sleep health dimensions and their associations with perceived stress and health in a UK sample. Journal of Public Health, fdz016, February 23, 2019. PMID: 30796785. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdz016/5363938, accessed February 19, 2020. https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdz016/5363938

4↑ Peach, H., Gaultney, J. F., Gray, D. D., Sleep hygiene and sleep quality as predictors of positive and negative dimensions of mental health in college students, Cogent Psychology, volume 3, issue 1, 2016. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/23311908.2016.1168768?scroll=top&needAccess=true, accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/citedby/10.1080/23311908.2016.1168768?scroll=top&needAccess=true

5↑ Lim, D.C., Najafi, A., Afifi, L., Bassetti, C., LA., Buysse, D. J., Han, F., et al, The need to promote sleep health in public health agendas across the globe. The Lancet: Public Health, Volume 8, Issue 10, pages E820 – E826, October 2023. PMID: 37777291, PMCID: PMC10664020. Available from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00182-2/fulltext, accessed November 30, 2023. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00182-2/fulltext

6↑ Gunzelmann, G., Gross, J. B., Gluck, K. A., Dinges, D. F., Sleep Deprivation and Sustained Attention Performance: Integrating Mathematical and Cognitive Modeling. Cognitive Science, volume 33 (2009), pages 880 – 910, September 2008. PMID: 21585489. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01032.x, accessed February 19, 2020. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01032.x

7↑ Bonanno, L., Metro, D., Papa, M., Finzi, G., Maviglia, A., Sottile, F., Corallo, F., Manasseri, L., Assessment Of Sleep And Obesity In Adults And Children (Observational Study). Medicine 2019; 98:46 (e17642), September 23, 2019. PMID: 31725607, PMCID: PMC6867771. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/FullText/2019/11150/Assessment_of_sleep_and_obesity_in_adults_and.9.aspx, accessed February 18, 2020. https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/FullText/2019/11150/Assessment_of_sleep_and_obesity_in_adults_and.9.aspx

8↑ Zuraikat, F. M., Makarem, N., Liao, M., St‐Onge, M.‐P., and Aggarwal, Brooke, Measures of Poor Sleep Quality Are Associated With Higher Energy Intake and Poor Diet Quality in a Diverse Sample of Women From the Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Research Network. Journal of the American Heart Association, Volume 9, No. 4, 2020; 9:e014587, February 17, 2020. PMID: 32063123, PMCID: PMC7070194. Available from: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014587, accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.014587

9↑ Hale, L., Troxel, W., Buysse, D. J., Sleep Health: An Opportunity for Public Health to Address Health Equity. Annual Review of Public Health, volume 41, issue 1, pages 81 – 99, 2020. PMID: 31900098, PMCID: PMC7944938. Available from: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094412#_i4, accessed November 30, 2023. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094412#_i4

10↑ Irwin, M. R., and Opp, M. R,. Sleep Health: Reciprocal Regulation of Sleep and Innate Immunity. Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, volume 42 (2017), pages 129 – 155, September 2016. PMID: 27510422, PMCID: PMC5143488. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2016148, accessed February 19, 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2016148

11↑ Seixas, A., Vallon, J., Barnes-Grant, A., Butler, M., Langford, A., Grandner, M., Schneeberger, A., Huthchinson, J., Zizi, F., Jean-Louis, G., Mediating effects of body mass index, physical activity, and emotional distress on the relationship between short sleep and cardiovascular disease. Medicine, volume 97, issue 37(e11939), September 2018. PMID: 30212927, PMCID: PMC6156068. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2018/09140/Mediating_effects_of_body_mass_index,_physical.4.aspx, accessed February 18, 2020. https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2018/09140/Mediating_effects_of_body_mass_index,_physical.4.aspx

12↑ Loprinzi, P. D., & Joyner, C., Meeting Sleep Guidelines Is Associated With Better Health-Related Quality of Life and Reduced Premature All-Cause Mortality Risk. American journal of health promotion: AJHP, volume 32, issue 1, pages 68 – 71, January 2018. PMID: 29214822. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117116687459, accessed November 30, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117116687459

13↑ Consensus Conference Panel, Watson, N. F., Badr, M. S., et al, Recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: A joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. Sleep, volume 38, issue 6, 2015, pages 843 – 844. PMID: 26039963, PMCID: PMC4434546. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434546/pdf/aasm.38.6.843.pdf, accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4434546/pdf/aasm.38.6.843.pdf