Rest and Health: Symbiotic
There are interesting aspects of reality people experience daily, but don’t consciously register. For example, rest cycles. Humans need more than just a good night’s sleep every evening. There are annual, weekly, and monthly periods of rest that are conducive to health as well.
Did you know, after the French Revolution, those who won the conflict sought to establish a ten day week as a means of banishing the previous temporal system? They didn’t like the idea of seven-day weeks because such weeks hearkened back to an older cultural understanding of reality: that shared by those the Jacobins were at enmity with.
However, what these revolutionaries discovered is that there’s something deeper than culture defining rest periods human beings need after a amount period of days. The ten day week doesn’t work; only the seven day week works, and optimally, there should be a day taken off during that week. Why is this the case?
There’s debate potential here, so let’s get to the point instead: certain rhythms of rest are fundamental to health overall, and that is especially true on a nightly basis. To be at peak health, you need a day off a week at with regularity, and you need six to eight hours of sleep a night. If you’re not getting your sleep, here are issues you might find yourself contending with.
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1. Reduced Mental Ability
If you don’t sleep right, you’re going to have substantial mental fog. It’s hard to think when your brain doesn’t get enough time to “reset” every night. You’ll make unnecessary mistakes, and you’ll be unable to do complex tasks. This problem will persist as long as you continue to lose sleep, and could develop into permanent brain damage eventually.
2. Improper Metabolic Function
Metabolic functionality is bound up in sleep patterns. Sleeping too much or too little will put your metabolism “out of whack”, as the saying goes. In either scenario you tend to put on weight. The body uses adipose tissue as an energy reserve when you’re sleep deprived. When you get too much sleep, your body can’t work off caloric intake.
3. Long-Term Physical Consequences
Generally, an impact to your mind or body will result in physical consequences. So you’ll suffer just from the lack of sleep alone. However, sometimes you’re sustaining damage not just from sleep loss, but from an uncomfortable place of rest. Some people have to live in a car out of poverty, and the strange sleep positions that result ultimately injure them.
Some people sleep on futons or couches that don’t have proper back support, pulling on their lower back and pelvic regions, ultimately resulting in physical damage that persists through the day and into the next night. If you’re waking up with back pain, and you’ve got a normal bed, then you might want to look into a mattress for back pain specifically.
Such mattresses can be secured for varying back issues, ultimately helping you rest in a way that doesn’t do damage to your body.
4. Exacerbation of Existing Health Problems
If you have an existing health issue like cancer, asthma, diabetes, COPD, obesity, or sleep apnea, the more you go without proper rest, the worse those conditions get. Some health conditions can be reversed (to a degree) with proper rest.
When you sleep, the body kicks into “healing mode”, and starts repairing damaged aspects of bodily functionality at the cellular level. It’s like road construction at night when there isn’t as much traffic. If suddenly you funnel high volumes of traffic through a road scheduled for maintenance every night, it’ll never get fixed.
5. Development of Gradual Psychosis From Emotional Impact
When you’re sleep-deprived, that results in an emotional shift. Without proper sleep, you’re going to be irritable. If you’re irritable, that will affect your decision-making capability. Bad decisions result in bodily harm, mental harm, and a general worsening of associated issues. Insomniacs and other sleep-deprived persons can become psychotic.
https://pixabay.com/photos/bedroom-light-room-bed-home-house-4786791/Better Sleep and Health Overall
Mental health is impacted, emotional health is impacted, physical health is impacted, existing health problems are exacerbated, and your metabolism is impacted by improper rest. If you’re not getting the sleep you need every night, it’s more than a minor inconvenience. You need to determine how best to solve that problem. Sometimes a new mattress is all you need.
