Sleep is important for your health by supporting your immune system and improving concentration. Without enough sleep, you won’t see these benefits and could experience detrimental side effects. Learn why sleep is important, how nutrition affects your sleep, and how to encourage a healthy sleep routine.
Table of Contents:
- Why Sleep Is Important
- 14 Benefits of Sleep
- Side Effects of a Lack of Sleep
- Why Magnesium is Important to Sleep
- 5 Ways to Improve Sleep
- How Magnesium Deficiency Affects Sleep
Why Sleep Is Important
Your body recharges, grows, and heals during your rest - so getting good sleep is important. Without sleep, many vital processes within your body cannot function at their optimum. While you’re asleep, your body is working to support essential brain function and maintain physical health. Sleep supplements or sleep aids may encourage a peaceful night’s sleep and help you to drift off to get that all important sleep.
Without enough sleep, you may suffer from sleep deprivation and the side effects which come along with it. These side effects can cause detrimental problems. Being unable to concentrate, forgetting things, and increased risk of heart issues are just a few of the problems it causes. These side effects can be really difficult to deal with and potentially dangerous, so getting enough sleep is important to boost your mental and physical health.
Sleep is important for ensuring you look after your body and mind as best you can. In younger people, sleep is important to encourage growth and development. Sleep is important to help maintain concentration and encourage effective learning. There are many benefits of a restful snooze which reinforce why sleep is so important to us.
14 Benefits of Sleep
Many aspects of the body are affected by sleep. Not only is sleep important for helping you feel rested and ready for the day, but sleep and mental wellbeing go hand in hand. Improve your sleep cycle, and you may experience the essential benefits of a peaceful night’s sleep. Essential sleep benefits that improve our day to day include:
- Promotes muscle recovery and tissue repair
- Supports immune system response
- Refreshes you for the day ahead
- Improves cognitive function
- Supports reaction time & productivity
- Encourages your memory
- Increases concentration
- Improves learning & problem-solving skills
- Reduces risks of accidents
- Heals and repairs heart & blood vessels
- Reduces risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure
- Reduces risk of obesity
- Maintains a health hormone balance
- Encourages better control over emotions
Sleep is important for our everyday health, as well as helping to avoid accidents and serious health problems which come with a lack of sleep. Even experiencing a few hours less sleep each night can have a serious impact on your mood, concentration, and behaviour.
Sleep is important for us all, no matter our age, and you can impact your nutrition for better sleep. One of these nutrients is the mineral magnesium. Magnesium and sleep go hand in hand - the mineral can encourage you to drift off peacefully. Therefore, ensuring your nutrient levels are at their optimum is important for sleep.
Side Effects of a Lack of Sleep
Without enough rest, you can’t experience these vital benefits of sleep, and can actually experience detrimental side effects. Some of these symptoms of a lack of sleep impact 3 main areas, these include:
- Tiredness - Feeling tired during the day, experiencing frequent yawns, not feeling refreshed when you wake up, feeling you could sleep during the day
- Coordination - Memory issues, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, accidents and increased clumsiness, poor balance
- Health risks - Increased risk of diabetes, weight gain, high blood pressure, increased risk of heart disease
Without experiencing that all important sleep, you may suffer from these symptoms and experience increased health risks and everyday fatigue. These can be detrimental to your everyday routine. If you do suffer from these issues, it may be worth taking energy supplements in order to feel that well-needed boost.
Why Magnesium is Important to Sleep
One of the benefits of magnesium is its role in supporting sleep. The mineral is important to sleep thanks to its role in partnership with melatonin. Magnesium regulates the levels of melatonin in your body, and this in turn affects your sleep. Melatonin is a hormone which is important to sleep because it tells your body to wind down for bed and to wake up in the morning. Without proper melatonin function, you may experience unwanted symptoms from a lack of snoozing. Magnesium supplements could help to encourage a full night’s rest for those who struggle to sleep.
Magnesium regulates the melatonin levels in your body, without it working as it should, your important sleep may be compromised. If your levels of magnesium become too low, you may suffer from deficiencies. With insufficient magnesium your sleep may be impacted, and you can experience unwanted side effects. Improving your sleep is important to your health, and ensuring your magnesium levels are where they should be can help to support your sleep and aid sleep deprivation recovery.
5 Ways to Improve Sleep
Magnesium is important to sleep through its role in the production of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland in your brain which helps your body know when to wind down for sleep or wake you up for the morning. Melatonin helps you avoid sleep deprivation, insomnia, and helps you fight the winter blues. Improving how well you snooze can help you see why sleep is important for your health. Magnesium is a mineral which can be used in a topical, or over-the-skin form, known as transdermal magnesium. Some ways you can encourage peaceful sleep with magnesium include:
- Magnesium sprays - The mineral oil used in our Magnesium Sprays is a concentration of magnesium chloride. Magnesium sprays are a quick and effective way to help you achieve that all important sleep. Designed to be taken on the move, they are an easy pill-free solution to remedy sleep deficiency.
- Magnesium lotions - BetterYou Magnesium Lotions are easy to use and can encourage an optimal sleep routine. Use them before or after exercise to support bone and muscle health, to aid sleep and quieten the mind, and to moisturise and hydrate for healthy looking skin.
- Magnesium flakes - Magnesium Bath Flakes are a highly concentrated form of magnesium chloride, a natural form of the mineral. They are an effective way to enjoy the benefits of magnesium chloride in a bath, fully exposing and replenishing the body with this essential mineral. When placed in warm water, the flakes dissolve - the perfect way to wind down before getting some important sleep.
- Magnesium gel - BetterYou Magnesium Gel uses a targeted application technique to supplementation ideal for use during exercise to aid muscle function and recovery as well as improve your important sleep.
- Magnesium body butter - Our BetterYou Magnesium Body Butter is a deeply rich, intensively moisturising body butter, to help you feel rested and relaxed before sleep while promoting muscle function.
Improving your sleep is important to help you feel rested and ready for the day ahead. Improve your relaxation and sleep with magnesium supplements made for hassle-free application. Using these products can help you experience the benefits of the mineral, including sleep.
How Magnesium Deficiency Affects Sleep
Sleep is important for your health, and magnesium benefits sleep by regulating melatonin. If your levels of magnesium are too low, you could be at risk of suffering from magnesium deficiency. This can happen to anyone who does not intake enough magnesium. Whether your diet does not include enough sources of magnesium, or you don’t make the most of supplements, you may suffer from deficiency.
Without enough magnesium to regulate melatonin, your body won’t know when to wind down to help you snooze peacefully. Instead, you may find yourself tossing and turning, unable to drift off. There are some signs to look out for if you’re concerned about your levels of magnesium. Some signs of low magnesium include:
- Poor sleep - Magnesium plays an important role in sleep. The body needs magnesium to maintain a state of rest. Deficiency can lead to restless muscles which keep you awake at night. Magnesium helps the brain receptors to switch off before you go to sleep. Without enough, you might not get off to sleep easily.
- Fatigue - People suffering from deficiency may feel fatigued and tired. As the mineral is a natural relaxant which works alongside calcium to help regulate muscle movement, not getting enough can result in a build-up of lactic acid. This leaves the body open to muscle tiredness and soreness. Therefore, although fatigue and tiredness are signs of multiple different health issues, there’s probably a reason you’re always tired and suffering from bad sleep.
- Heart palpitations - These symptoms are mild in most cases, but deficiency can cause pauses between heartbeats and the feeling of an irregular heartbeat. Magnesium assists with your nerve system and nerve endings, so not getting enough could lead to nerve damage. Sleep also helps support your heart and blood vessels, so if you can’t sleep thanks to a lack of magnesium, you may experience a sense of tingling in the hands, feet, and face.
Sleep is important for your health, and magnesium supplements could help improve your snoozing. As sleep is important, ensuring your magnesium intake is at its optimum level can help to encourage a peaceful night of rest. According to the NHS, the recommended daily magnesium dosage is:
- 300mg per day for men (aged 19–64)
- 270mg per day for women (aged 19–64 years)
Supplementing with BetterYou
At BetterYou, we specialise in pill-free supplementation and encouraging nutrient knowledge. With vitamin D supplements for your bones and children’s vitamins for your little ones, you can support a healthy lifestyle with BetterYou.
