Sleep is vital to our physical and mental health and yet the NHS confirms that a third of UK adults suffer from insomnia. The condition is defined as difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed and it is particularly common among the elderly.

It isn’t just a matter of getting the right amount of sleep; the quality of that sleep is important too.

Poor sleep could be having a daily effect on your mood and concentration levels. In the longer term, you could find you struggle to maintain a social life, have difficulty completing everyday tasks, or notice that your personal relationships begin to suffer.

Keep reading to discover the health benefits of getting the right amount of good quality sleep, and how to go about it.

3 surprising benefits of a good night’s sleep

A poor night’s sleep can leave you feeling tired, irritable, and unable to concentrate. But over the longer term, there could be other consequences too.

Here are some of the positive effects good sleep could have. 

1. Decreased anxiety

A poor night’s sleep – especially if it happens regularly – could lead to you feeling low. In turn, this can increase anxiety, making a good night’s sleep even more unlikely.

Insufficient or poor-quality sleep can also affect your productivity. If you have a busy and stressful job or everyday tasks to complete around the home, failing to get tasks done could increase your anxiety and hamper your ability to sleep.

A good night’s rest can break this vicious cycle. 

2. Stronger immune system

The time we spend asleep is time the body uses to build our immune systems. The proteins created during sleep can help to fight off infections and illness.

The more we sleep, the more we help to build up immunity. In another potentially vicious cycle, alongside improving immunity, the infection-fighting proteins themselves can help you sleep, thereby allowing even more of them to be produced.

This means that healthy sleep patterns are to a certain extent self-sustaining, while also helping you to fight off illness and disease.

3. Improved physical health

Sleep also helps the body to regulate the hormones that control our weight. Over long periods, poor sleep could increase your appetite, leaving you prone to overeating and weight gain.

As well as leading to obesity, insufficient or poor-quality sleep is also linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and issues with the heart, like a stroke or heart attack. It could also increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

3 simple tips for a better night’s sleep

On average, as adults, we need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. Children need 9 to 13 hours, while for toddlers and babies, those numbers rise to between 12 and 17 hours.

Regulating the amount of sleep you get isn’t easy but there are steps you can take to improve your chances of a restful night. 

1. Develop a calming evening routine

The winter months can upset our body clocks, but sticking to an established routine can help. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even if you have slept poorly, and even at the weekend. 

Be sure to relax in the run-up to bedtime. Take a bath, listen to music or read a book but avoid using electronic devices if you can. You might consider joining the nearly two-thirds of UK adults who complete puzzles (from crosswords and Sudoku to jigsaws and Rubik’s cubes) weekly. 

Where you use a smartphone to read, play music or complete puzzles, be sure to turn on the device’s blue light filter.

You might find a Sad (seasonal affective disorder) alarm clock helps establish and maintain these patterns. It can simulate sunset and sunrise to help regulate your circadian rhythms, especially when the clocks change and nights get shorter or longer.

2. Think about your lifestyle 

Plenty of fresh air, exercise, and a healthy diet can all help you to sleep better. Exercise releases endorphins that boost our mood and make us less anxious. Fresh air, especially in nature, can also have a positive effect on mental health, and so make for a calmer, restful night.

Just be sure you don’t exercise too close to bedtime. Leave at least four hours between exercise and sleep if you can.

During the winter, consider upping the vitamin D in your diet, maybe through red meat or egg yolks, for example. 

Also avoid nicotine, caffeine, and eating large meals during the six hours before you intend to go to bed.

3. Make sure your bedroom is comfortable

It is important that your bedroom is conducive to a good night’s sleep and that means regulating everything you have control over.

Consider thick blinds or an eye mask to minimise excess light. Use earplugs to cut out the noise and keep a window open if you can, to ensure you get fresh air throughout all night.