The need for a good night’s sleep
As a mama you already know how difficult it can be to have a good night’s sleep with a new baby around, or even an older infant. Yet, the importance of getting enough of it is so vital to our physical and mental health.
It’s also key to being a good parent; parents that chronically lack sleep tend to be much more agitated and irritable than those that get plentiful rest which comes out in their parenting style. I can definitely vouch for this!
When we don’t get enough rest we are often left feeling depleted, moody and unable to focus. The groggy feeling associated with a lack of sleep compounds over time to the extent the feeling of sleep deprivation can feel almost unmanageable at times.
It’s a challenge to deal with as it’s not like you can build a grown up treehouse with George Hill Timber that acts as a sanctuary to escape the incessant crying. It’s something, as parents, we must respond to… that said, if you are trying out the method of parenting that encourages your child to self-soothe; it can be useful to have a place to escape to – even if this is noise cancelling earphones or white noise machines that play relaxing music to help you drift off to sleep
So, why is sleep so important?
Sleep plays a vital role in our state of overall health and well-being. There are a few different phases of sleep, and it’s important you ensure you get enough deep sleep rather than light sleep each night, as it’s only the level of deep that will replenish and revitalise your body helping with higher energy levels and not leaving you clinging to your bed sobbing when morning time comes.
Whilst the quantity is important, the quality is possibly more important – if you have disturbed sleep, it means you are never getting to that point of physical replenishment which you need for your body to repair itself. Our bodies require adequate rest in order to function, like a mobile phone that gets charged each night, you need shut eye in order to have energy. The human body, and especially our superhuman mama ones, is very resilient and can cope without getting decent rest for many weeks, months and even years – but over time, the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation can lead to chronic illness.
In addition to physical health, getting enough is vital to your mental health and healthy brain function. Sleep doesn’t make you more intelligent, but it does make you more alert, engaged and focused – meaning you’re better able to apply the intelligence you have rather than feeling chronically drained the whole time.
We put our bodies and minds through a lot each day, and bedtime is the time your body gets the chance to replenish and repair itself. It’s therefore vital we get enough sleep as otherwise our bodies don’t have the chance to fully recover and recharge; which can negatively affect our immune system, leaving us more vulnerable to illness.
*This is a collaborative post.
