Why is Sleep so Important?
Updated: Dec 23, 2021
According to SingHealth in 2018, it was found that 15% of Singaporeans are suffering from insomnia. Sleep is one of the most underrated and neglected aspects when it comes to improving our health. Often, when it comes to trying to be healthy, we will look into programming an exercise regime, planning out a healthy diet or even have a personal trainer do that for us. However, we tend to overlook one of the most important factors which is sleep. Many of us are probably guilty of that as we are often caught and tied up with our busy schedules causing us to not have adequate sleep. In this article, we will be sharing with you why it is important to have adequate sleep and the benefits that come along with adequate sleep.
1. Improved mood:
Studies have found that the lack of sleep often leads to us feeling fatigued and hard to concentrate the very next day. Consequently, this would leave us feeling more grumpy and irritable the very next day. In fact, our mood will also affect how much and how well we sleep ! Feelings of anxiety, stress and agitation can result in our body feeling aroused, awake and alert. All these may inadvertently disrupt your sleep quality and affect your mood.
2. Improved muscle recovery:
Adequate sleep helps in the regulation of hormones produced by the body. In particular, ample sleep will help regulate the release of growth hormones in the body. Human growth hormone is an essential hormone which helps in the muscle recovery process. This will help with our fitness goals such as building muscles in the gym.
3. Improved exercise performance:
With adequate amounts of sleep, this helps to improve one’s focus and concentration as well. With improved focus and concentration, this allows us to improve our exercise performance as we are better able to activate our muscles and focus on completing the exercise with optimal form with the guidance of a personal trainer. In addition, an ample amount of sleep will leave us feeling more refreshed and energetic the next day, which will boost our exercise performance as well !
4. Improved immune function:
The lack of sleep can affect one immune system in a negative way. During our sleep, our body releases antibodies that help to combat infection and inflammation. A lack of sleep may result in the decrease in production of these antibodies hence weakening our body’s immune system. This might result in us having a higher risk of falling sick when exposed to viruses such as the common cold.
In conclusion, there are many associated benefits with having adequate amounts of sleep. However, a very common question one might have is how much sleep do I need ? The National Sleep Foundation recommends that for healthy adults, we should get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. In addition, you want to ensure that you have good quality of sleep. Some characteristics of a good quality sleep includes being able to fall asleep within 30 minutes and waking up no more than once throughout the night.
So do remember to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night in conjunction to regular exercise for optimal health, growth and recovery. For more health and fitness advice on how to achieve your personal fitness goals, look no further! Train with Celebrity Fitness Trainers at FITLUC and #GetThatFITLook. Our dedicated trainers are more than happy to help you customize a training program and provide you with the right advice to help you achieve your fitness goals ! So what are you waiting for? Drop us a WhatsApp message at +65 8812 0110 or book a personal training trial with one of our dedicated trainers to explore if personal training is the best choice for you!
Just a heads-up, it will probably be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made.
About FITLUC
Looking for a Personal Trainer in Singapore? Look no further! At FITLUC, we specialise in In-Person and Online Personal Training, and we also offer house-call PT with a small additional fee. We currently base our Personal Training clients at a well-equipped gym just a stone's throw away from Outram Park MRT.
We are recognized as one of the Top 12 Best PT in Singapore and were featured on Mothership, The Straits Times, YES 93.3FM, Yahoo News, etc. Our Personal Trainers have worked with clients aged 13 – 84, from Celebrities to CEOs, working professionals and homemakers, with goals ranging from fat loss, weight loss, muscle gain to athletic performance and elderly training. Our celebrity clientele includes Tay Ping Hui, Maxi Lim, Jaspers Lai, Hazelle Teo, Tayying, Lee Teng, Ze Tong, Benjamin Tan and more.
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