Sleeping Enough Has Great Benefits for Your Wellbeing
Sleep is a fascinatingly complex process that you go through every day, and it affects your health in surprising ways
Sleep is one of the essential needs for your body’s wellbeing. Your body functions the best with a regular sleep-wake cycle.
In the modern world, there are many things that compete for the same time as your sleep. Sometimes it is your emotions and stress taking over. Sometimes it’s other interesting activities that capture your attention. In both cases, it can get increasingly difficult to find a peaceful mindset for getting ready to sleep.
Lack of sleep can cause:
- Decline in cognitive functions
- Lack of energy and weight gain
- Memory problems and moodiness
- Difficult to perform at work or at school
- Lower sex drive
Ability to Sleep Varies Based on your Circumstances
Your ability to sleep any stretch of time can change depending on the circumstances of the day and the environment.
Environment
Physical aspects like light, temperature and noise can affect your ability to sleep the needed time.
Emotions
Emotional aspects like stress and emotional state play an important role in the quality of your sleep.
Bedtime Habits
Good bedtime habits can greatly enhance your opportunity to have a good night’s sleep.
Good sleep requires that our environment adjust to your body’s need for sleep. Humans sleep best in a quiet environment without light pollution, comfortable bed, supportive pillow and adequate cover.
Sleep is a Health Behaviour
Sleep is partly voluntary and involuntary. You actively turn off the lights, reduce noise and lay down in bed to sleep. Once you have started your bedtime routines, your body automatically starts to increase the level of melatonin in your brain and changes the activity patterns of the brain. During sleep, your body performs all functions that are important for maintaining your health and repairing cell damages. Your brain goes through a cleaning cycle during sleep.
Need for Sleep is Universal
We all have our individual biological need for sleep but there is no universal minimum. This need for sleep is what your body requires to prepare for the next day. Your need for sleep changes throughout your life. Children need more sleep to grow healthy, while adults require less sleep to function. Some suggest that, on average, adults need about 7-8 hours sleep daily. Some individuals can function very well with less sleep, while others need much longer sleep period.
Sleep is an Act of Wellbeing
Investing in how well you sleep is as much as an act of wellbeing for you as eating healthy or taking care of your skin. If you haven’t thought of sleep as part of your health routines, it might be the right time to change the perception. Seeing sleep as a health behaviour will help you understand you can positively affect your health through sleep.
Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis L.)
Lemon balm is part of the mint family and it has a subtle lemon taste. It is a widely cultivated herb thriving in temperate regions of southern and eastern Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia. The plant is very attractive to bees, and was named after the greek word for bees, Melissa. In some countries you can also buy Lemon Balm plants in the grocery stores. The leaves are often used in decorating cakes. It is also an important herb in some herb liquors.
Melissa Dream™ - Restful Sleep and Relaxation
Read more about Melissa Dream in case you have been stressed and worried recently, and if your sleep has been affected by them. Taking a herbal supplement like Melissa Dream can make your bedtime habits easier and help you sleep more restfully.
“Lemon balm contributes to normal and calm sleep while the B-vitamin complex and magnesium help the nervous system to function correctly.”
Read Borghild’s story on how she found better sleep with Melissa Dream.