You Need Your Beauty Sleep
—OR THINGS CAN GET UGLY

We mostly take lack of sleep as a given—right? It’s just the way we live. We’re too busy getting on with things, to have the time or concern for a good night’s sleep. OK, so while we’re all very busy, and sleep is something we catch up on at weekends, did you realise that insufficient sleep can be more than just feeling tired the next day? Let me explain.

While it’s true that certain groups of people need extra rest, sleep is a necessity for all of us. In fact, sleep is part of the natural rhythms by which our bodies operate. When God created the earth, He used the darkness and light to separate the night and the day1. He used this system to instil in us a need for daily rest. Take a look at David, who referred to sleep many times in his book of Psalms—“I stretch myself out. I sleep. Then I’m up again—rested tall and steady…” 2

So, what happens when we don’t get enough sleep?

Many people are unaware of the importance of sleep to our long-term health and our ability to enjoy life. Following are some of the recent findings from sleep research:

With reduced amounts of sleep, our bodies miss out on the full restorative properties that take place when we rest. These include wound healing, muscle building and the strengthening of the immune system via antibody production3.

Serious lack of sleep has been likened to a raised blood alcohol concentration, thus affecting mental and physical performance, and our safety. Researchers from Australia and New Zealand4 report that “sleep is needed after the end of a day if adverse effects on performance are to be avoided and It could be argued that this common pattern of waking and sleeping plays a major part in ensuring safety”.

Problems that result in deprivation of restful sleep are now associated with harmful changes in blood lipids and glucose metabolism—even after adjustments for the presence of obesity and

smoking5. Over time, it is suspected that these changes due to sleep loss can pose an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and a reduced life expectancy3. Serious stuff!

So, I hope you can see that sleep (or lack of it) is not something to be taken for granted. In fact, without rest in sufficient amounts, things can get dodgy. God designed sleep to be part of our nature and a very necessary ingredient for a happy and healthy life.

1. Genesis 1:1-5
2. Psalm 3:5 The Message
3. J Lang. Re:Life. Find your Balance and Master Work, Change, Career, Family, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep. Prentice Hall Frenchs Forest, Australia, 2002.
4. AM Williamson and A Feyer. Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication. Occup Environ Med 2000; 57:649-655(October.).
5. PM Nilsson, JA Nilsson, B Hedblad, G Berglund. Sleep disturbance in association with elevated pulse for prediction of mortality – consequences of mental strain? J Intern Med. 2001 December;250(6):521-9.