Each Saturday I try to go to bed early to make sure I
have a full 8 hours of restful sleep before I head to church to preach the Word
of God. How do you prepare for Sunday?
Here is an article I thought you would enjoy:
7
Benefits of Deep Sleep
I’ve been benefiting from this book’s comprehensive view
of rest. As the subtitle says, “Why sleep alone is not enough.” But it is an
important foundation, as Edlund outlines in chapter 1.
Here’s a summary:
1. Sleep Is Necessary for Weight Control.
From 2003 to 2009, multiple population studies around the
world have shown that people who sleep fewer than seven hours, especially those
getting fewer than six hours of sleep, gain appreciable weight. In the
small-scale, short-term studies done in 2008, sleeping an extra 30 to
60 minutes a night decreased weight. Some people rapidly shed 10 to
15 pounds.
2. Sleep Is Required for Memory and Learning.
The better you sleep, the more you learn. The deeper the
sleep, the better our learning. But research at Harvard has shown that short
periods of daytime sleep—even as short as a six-minute nap—can improve memory.
3. Sleep Is Needed to Prevent Major Clinical
Depression.
When people sleep enough, their mood quickly improves.
And getting enough sleep should also go a long way toward preventing major
clinical depression, an illness whose rates have been doubling and tripling
among Americans over the last 30 years.
4. Sleep Is Required to Grow New Brain Cells.
This has only been discovered in the past few years,
overthrowing years of scientific dogma.
5. Sleep Is Needed to Avoid Colds and
Fight Off Infection.
Rest is more than restoration. Rest is on the front lines
of your infection defense system. It keeps your immune system going. Rest
prevents infection. Rest well, stay well.
6. Enough Sleep Prevents Plaque From
Forming in Your Arteries, Preventing Heart Attack and Stroke.
Arterial plaque is the basis of the majority of heart
attacks and strokes, and fortunately for us, good sleep can prevent its even
getting started.
7. Proper Sleep Is Required to Maintain and
Strengthen the Inner Clocks That Regulate Our Lives.
It doesn’t really matter when you sleep; what does matter
is the regularity of your pattern, when you wake and when you sleep. Your
clocks are regular in their timing for a reason. Life is rhythmic. So is sleep.
To know when to sleep, it pays to know a little about your own inner music.
Dr. David Murray is
Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Seminary.
He is also Pastor of Grand Rapids Free Reformed Church. David is the author of
Christians get depressed too, How Sermons Work, and Jesus on Every Page. You
can read his blog at HeadHeartHand.org/blog or follow him on Twitter
@davidpmurray. David is married to Shona and they have five children ranging
from 4 months to 17 years old, and they love camping, fishing, boating, and
skiing in the Lake Michigan area.
