Why getting a good night’s sleep is so important

Sleep is not just about switching off, not getting enough can have a profound impact on your daily life.

You have probably heard the magic number of eight when it comes to how many hours of sleep we should get.

In fact, the average adult needs between six and nine hours, and, while some people can function on less, it’s not advisable in the long term. That’s because sleep is not just a way of relaxing, it has a number of physical and mental benefits too, which can have a huge impact on your daily life if you’re not getting enough.

However, for many people, a good night’s sleep is just a pipe dream, which is where cannabidiol can provide a safer, less addictive alternative to sleep aids such as diazepam (Valium) and zolpidem.

Here are just three reasons why a good night’s sleep is so important.

A healthy weight

Strange as it may seem, poor sleep is one of the biggest risk factors for obesity. Research has found that children and adults who get less than average sleep are 89 per cent and 55 per cent more likely to be obese respectively.

The effect of sleep on weight gain is believed to be caused by a number of factors, including hormones and motivation to exercise, as well as tiredness often leading to poor food choices.

Concentration

We all know how hard it is to concentrate when we’ve had just one bad night’s sleep, so it’s no surprise that long-term sleep deprivation leads to long-term loss of productivity. 

In fact, research has shown that lack of sleep, even for just one night, can have the same effect on performance as alcohol. 

Sleep is also vital for learning; while you’re asleep, your brain begins to organise and process all the information you’ve taken on during the day, converting short-term memories into long-term memories. 

This helps you to learn and means that when you wake up, you can often think more clearly.

Heart health

Lack of sleep can have a more significant impact on your health too, increasing the risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and coronary heart disease. 

Waking up too often is thought to stimulate your sympathetic nervous system, which activates your cardiovascular system and increases your blood pressure to prepare you for waking up. However, when you are being kept awake too often, your body can’t compensate for this rise in blood pressure and level may remain higher than is ideal.

These are just some of the reasons a good night’s sleep is so important, but if you’re struggling to get your full hours, there are a number of ways cannabidiol could help.

With stress being one of the leading causes of insomnia, the recognised calming properties of CBD oil can be a useful tool to help you drift off.

A few drops of the oil under the tongue – or an edible – before bed, combined with some deep breathing, can settle the mind and body, ready for a peaceful night.

Research also suggests that CBD can help improve sleep quality; a paper published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that systemic acute administration of CBD appears to increase total sleep time, as well as increasing sleep latency on the day of administration.

With sleep such an important part of our lives, CBD could be a valuable way of making sure we make the most of our time in bed.