Sleep is an important aspect of everyone’s life and we just cannot ignore its vitality in our lives. We’ve probably disrupted our sleep patterns more than anything else and it is just something that you wished you’d never done at any point in time in your life.

Disrupting your sleeping patterns is something that can wreak havoc on your body and habitually not getting enough sleep can lead to long-term health consequences. 

In this post, I’m going to highlight 5 ways sleep can affect you and 6 things you can do about it.

1. Not getting enough sleep can have an almost immediate effect on your mood, energy levels, and ability to focus. Many people who sleep poorly report an increase in stress levels that may result in difficulty dealing with daily problems in life. This is because lack of sleep can disrupt stress hormones, affecting your cognitive abilities.
2. Irritability is another common lack of sleep effect. Feeling irritable and anxious may affect your feelings of motivation and engagement with your daily activities, making them feel more difficult and overwhelming.
3. As the sleep deficit builds up, being excessively tired during the day can cause problems with motor functioning. This lack of coordination and slow response time can become dangerous if driving a car or operating other machinery. Determining the cause of your sleep deprivation can help you find ways to remedy it.
4. Less sleep = Less immunity. Yes, it’s absolutely true. Don’t be amazed.
5. Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy are conditions that impair your sleep or prevent you from getting restful sleep and, as a result, can cause daytime sleepiness and other symptoms. Sleep problems can be caused by various factors:
   • Physical (such as ulcers).
   • Medical (such as asthma).
   • Psychiatric (such as depression and anxiety disorders).
   • Environmental (such as alcohol).
   • Working the night shift (this work schedule messes up the circadian rhythm)
   • Genetics (narcolepsy is genetic).
   • Medications (some interfere with sleep).
   • Aging

   Everyone can experience problems with sleep from time to time. However, you might have a sleep disorder if:

   • You regularly experience difficulty sleeping.
   • You are often tired during the day even though you slept for at least seven hours the night before.
   • You have a reduced or impaired ability to perform regular daytime activities.

We are drinking infusions, eating superfoods, taking expensive supplements to keep our immunity intact during these tough times, and ignoring the importance of our sleeping cycle. Just focusing on sleep and following the Circadian rhythm can improve your immunity.  The reason is that when you sleep your immune system goes to work. Sleep helps your immune system remember the invaders or pathogens, which makes it more efficient in dealing with them in the future.  When you sleep important hormones like melatonin are produced which can help the brain function and fight inflammation. 

How Can You Improve Sleep and Strengthen Your Immune System?

1. Seek out the sun: Exposure to natural light, especially early in the day, helps reinforce the strongest circadian cue.
2. Follow a consistent sleep schedule: Varying your bedtime or morning wake-up time can hinder your body’s ability to adjust to a stable sleeping pattern.
3. Get daily exercise: Activity during the day can support your internal clock and help make it easier to fall asleep at night.
4. Avoid caffeine: Stimulants like caffeine can keep you awake and throw off the natural balance between sleep and wakefulness. Everyone is different, but if you’re having trouble sleeping, you should avoid caffeine after noon.
5. Limit light before bed: Artificial light exposure at night can interfere with your sleeping cycle. Experts advise dimming the lights and putting down electronic devices in the lead-up to bedtime and keeping electronics out of the bedroom and away from your mattress.
   
6. Keep naps short and early in the afternoon: Late and long naps can push back your bedtime and throw your sleep schedule off-kilter.

There are also several apps and treatments available online for different sleeping disorders such as Apnea. You can visit  https://sleepingtest.com/ to determine if you suffer from this disorder and what treatments are available for your specific case.

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