Last weekend we had a few late nights in a row.  Friday night we had family come through town and were up late talking.  Saturday we went to the mountains and went fishing and had a bonfire and didn’t get home until 11:30!  Then Sunday night my body was buzzing and awake and I couldn’t fall asleep until around midnight once again, not to mention we had a couple little visitors in the night.

Monday I felt like absolute garbage.  I felt weak, tired, irritable, super anxious and frustrated.  I got all ready to bring 3 kids 30 minutes away to go grocery shopping and do a bunch of errands to prepare for my youngest child’s birthday the following day.  I got through 2 stores and gave up, I headed home, no groceries, no energy, no patience.

The reality is the majority of the population does not get enough sleep each night.  I felt inspired to research and write an article on the benefits of sleep so you and I both can be motivated to get more sleep tonight

 4 Reasons Why You Need To Get More Sleep Tonight

1. Better Mood: Getting optimal sleep (6 + hours) helps to balance your emotions.  It reduces irritability, anxiety, depression and stress.  It increases your patience, energy and elevates your emotions.

2. Increased Memory: Getting enough sleep improves your ability to learn.  While you sleep, your brain is preparing for the next day by forming new pathways to help you learn new information.  Optimal sleep also helps you concentrate better and be more creative.

3. Metabolism: Not getting enough sleep affects the hormones that regulate our hunger and how our bodies store carbohydrates, thus making it harder to loose weight.

4. Less Disease: Sleep greatly affects our risk for disease.  More sleep means less inflammation in our bodies which means less disease.  Getting enough sleep also strengthens our immune system and enhances our ability to fight off sickness.  When we don’t get enough sleep we have higher blood sugar levels which increases our likelihood for diabetes as well.

I hope this gives you a bit of motivation to get more sleep tonight.  If you have trouble getting to sleep like I do sometimes I have written a post specifically to help increase sleep naturally.

In addition I often use 1 drop of lavender oil to help me fall asleep and also sleep more soundly.  This also works great for kids as well 🙂

How has sleep affected your life?  What to do you to make sure you get enough?  Let’s continue the conversation below!