Everybody knows that a good night's sleep is worth a small fortune in terms of how we feel the next day. Our energy levels, our mood and even how good our skin, eyes and face looks, can be affected.
A good night's sleep can take five years off the face!
On the opposite end, too little sleep can drain us of energy, cause mood swings and create a lot of difficulty with our work, health, parenting and relationships.
In an article for the Huffington Post, Karen Brody (who is the founder of BOLD, a rejuvenation movement for women) spoke about her experiences with chronic lack of sleep and its huge and negative impact on her health.
She'd been dealing with panic attacks, and was given the anxiety medication Klonopin. She became addicted to it. Brody was later diagnosed with chronic fatigue even though she was continually active (too much so) and living on artificial energy due to her medication.
Her friends told her to take to her bed and sleep, and says she did just that. She took a year off work and slept a lot, going from no sleep to at least eight hours every day, doing very little when she was awake. Through this routine, she kicked her addiction and got better.
She admits that most women could never have this luxury but insists that women simply need to do what they can to ensure they get enough sleep at night and take as many naps as possible.
It's a good idea to get to the bottom of why a person cannot sleep. A person needs to take time to evaluate their lifestyle.
Check time management -- is it efficient? Does allowing children to stay up late or share the parental bedroom and disrupt their sleep?
Is the person too active late at night? Sleeping with a bad mattress or in a room without adequate air circulation?
Evaluating these habits and changing them when necessary can make for a much better night's sleep.
Insomnia can be a sign of possible health conditions. Talking with a health care provider can help to identify possible physical or emotional causes for sleeping badly at night.