Sleep should not be an afterthought. It is so easy to sacrifice sleep given all of the important tasks that we have to do during the day. We stay awake until late at night even if we have to wake up early for work or school. Sometimes this in unavoidable due to certain activities but this should not be the norm. On a regular night, you should try to get around 8 hours of sleep to rest well and recharge. The quality of sleep matters as well. It should be unbroken and restful, not interrupted by noise, pain, coughs, thoughts, and so on. Sleeping well every night will allow you to do the following:1. Hasten RecoveryOur body naturally heals itself during sleep. The more time we dedicate to this activity, the faster we can get better from any illness or injury. If you are an athlete who trains a lot, then you absolutely need to be sleeping well not only at night but also during the day through short naps. This will allow your body to bounce back stronger from hard sessions and prevent the build-up of fatigue. If you have undergone surgery, then you should be sleeping as much as you can so that the wounds can be mended more quickly. The body is able to repair itself but we have to help things along. 2. Boost ImmunitySleep is also known to boost immunity from illness. There are studies that have seen a link between good sleeping habits and reduced incidence of the common cold. Meanwhile, those who slept less than 7 hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as well as other diseases. It may be tempting to stay up late since there are days when 24 hours aren’t enough to do everything we need in a day. However, doing so will compromise our immune system and make us vulnerable to viruses and bacteria. We’ll be sick and unable to perform our duties if we don’t take good care of ourselves. 3. Improve Memory If you want to stay sharp, then you have to sleep well. It is during this time that our brains process everything that happened to us throughout the course of the day. When we get enough, we are able to retain our memories much better with clearer detail. When we don’t, we are more likely to forget the things that happened to us or have a fuzzy memory of it. This can be bad for those who are in school and need to memorize a lot of material for their exams and recitations. It can also be detrimental in many forms of work. 4. Manage WeightStudies say that sleep helps with controlling weight as well. If you aren’t able to get enough, then you are more likely to feel tired throughout the day. This will make you feel hungrier than usual. You will be craving food and get drawn to high-calorie items. For instance, you might be tempted to go for soda for a quick jolt with its sugar content. This isn’t necessarily bad if it is a one-off situation. If you keep doing this, then it will become a problem as you will see your weight increasing. Lack of sleep will also make you feel lethargic in the morning. You will be less likely to run or do your exercise routine. 5. Enhance MoodSleep is important for mood management as well. We’ve all suffered from a lack of sleep at some point and we know how irritable we can get when this happens. The body demands more shut eye but we can’t because we stayed up late and we have to begin our day even when we don’t feel well enough to it. This makes us extra sensitive and irritable. Our emotion responses tend to be pushed further than usual. We may snap at our friends or colleagues. Stress can make us cry all of a sudden. We may even start to laugh without much control. 6. Make Better DecisionsQuality sleep allows us to have a sharp mind that is ready to make better decisions. Our head is clear so we have better cognitive function and can assess situations in a balanced way. It is also linked to improved grades, higher test scores, and finer creativity.