Bedtime!
Why Sleep is SO Important to your Health and how you can Benefit from It.
Sleep? Who has time for sleep? We've all got a million other things to do- homework to finish, tests to study for, practicing piano, your extracurricular activities, all your other classes on the weekend, that French quiz tomorrow that you forgot to study for, those much needed 5 minutes of devotions that seems almost impossible to cram in every night, Question of the Day for your PSATs.... the list just seems to go on and on. But have you ever thought about the benefits of sleep? Sure, it's a great way to spend half your day when you finally have a day off, and it definitely would be nice, if you didn't have to wake up at 7am to go to school every weekday. However, an adequate amount of sleep is very important. Did you know that teenagers need somewhere between 8-10 hours of sleep every night? A lack of sleep can lead to mood swings, irritability, a deterioration in the strength of you immune system, and many more dangerous consequences, such as heart failure and diabetes. On the other hand, enough sleep can help improve your memory, provide a better learning ability, clearer thinking, give a creativity boost, an increase in energy, lower stress, keep you from falling into depression, keep you at a healthy weight, and (perhaps the most important point to us as students!) improve your grades! "How can this be?" you ask. "I'm not studying when I'm asleep!"
You see, your brain actually speeds up its processes while you're asleep, and it processes and actually reviews what you learned during the day, whether the information is mental or physical. Needless to say, through mental review in your sleep, your memory will improve, and therefore consequently, your grades will too! An increase in energy and clearer, more creative thinking is quite self explanatory- the more rest you get, the more mental energy you'll have to use during the day. This means critical thinking that we're supposed to apply in school will come easier to you, and you won't have to wrack your brains for fifteen minutes straight in order to answer that critical thinking question on your chemistry lab packet. Think of how much time you won't have to spend staring blankly at your paper and how much easier you'll be able to cram in your nightly devotions time! Besides, a lack of sleep can cause a deterioration in your health, and therefore affect your body. Is that how you should treat the sacred temple of God?
If you think about it, you can do so much more and at a much faster rate if you just manage your time well and get a few more hours of sleep. Your body will thank you too- it'll get the time to function and catch up on all the physical processes it needs to perform to keep up with your incredibly busy life as a student. Think of all the advantages of sleep you can in every area of your life- and take action! All these bonuses are just within your reach- all you have to do is sleep!
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