The Rewards of Shut-Eye

Sleep strengthens the nerve circuits that underlie learning and memory, allowing the brain to make and consolidate new neural connections.

Missing out on sleep seriously impairs the body's ability to process blood sugar. It also elevates the stress hormone cortisol.

Sleeping for six hours a night may sound pretty good, but it's not likely enough to keep your immune system happy. Restricting your sleep by a mere two hours a night for one week provokes the process of inflammation, which may set people up for heart disease.

Sleep deprivation curtails your ability to come up with creative solutions to life's challenges.

Your brain is very active during sleep. Sleep organizes the memories of habits, actions, and skills learned during the day. Sleep gives you the mental energy to master complex tasks and the ability to concentrate.

In other words, success comes not only from what you accomplish when you are awake. We also get POWER from the ability of body and mind to consolidate themselves during the night while sleeping.

Sacrifice sleep and you sacrifice peak performance. It's noticeable in rates of work injuries.

health.yahoo.com...
People who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to a large British study.

Although the reasons are unclear, researchers said lack of sleep appeared to be linked to increased blood pressure, which is known to raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

A 17-year analysis of 10,000 government workers showed those who cut their sleeping from seven hours a night to five or less faced an increased risk in mortality from all causes and more than double the risk of cardiovascular death.

Findings indicate that consistently sleeping around seven hours per night is optimal for health.