How does sleep impact our brain health?

Understanding how sleep affects our brain health can help us lead happier and more productive lives; what’s more, it can help protect us from certain medical conditions. Let’s look at this in more detail.

Cognitive function

A decent amount of sleep will improve your cognitive function, including areas such as creative thought, decision-making, and critical thinking. Quite simply, the more sleep you have, the better your brain works. Without sufficient sleep, your brain will not function at its best, which can impact all areas of your life.

Toxin flushing

When you sleep, your brain gets to work at flushing out toxins that have built up during the day. This is carried out by the glymphatic system. If your brain does not have sufficient time to flush the toxins out, this can lead to neurological issues in the long term, such as Alzheimer’s.

Caring for people who have already been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s means ensuring they get enough sleep. If you are looking for care work, you will find a range of care assistant jobs Louth available from companies such as https://www.caremark.ie/job-opportunities/care-assistant-jobs-louth.

Memory consolidation

When we sleep, our brain processes, sorts, and stores all the memories it has collected during the day. Not only does this result in better retention of those memories but also it improves general memory function in the future.

Mood regulation

In addition to consolidating your memories, your brain processes all the emotions it experiences during the day when you sleep. This puts you in a better position for navigating life during waking hours. Better sleep can help prevent mood swings and even improve depression and anxiety. If you work as a care assistant, you will already know how important sleep is when regulating mood in your clients.

Sleeping and brain health go hand in hand, with poor sleep affecting everything from our mood, memory, ability to think properly, and even the chance of developing certain medical conditions. Getting eight hours of sleep every night is one of the best things you can do for your short and long-term brain health.