It's no surprise that we all need to sleep. But how exactly can losing sleep adversely affect our health?

Here is some great information linking sleep deprivation with cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease from a Guardian article by Rachel Cooke published on 9/24/17.

Chronic sleep deprivation is very common, with 2/3 of adults reporting getting less than the 8 hours a night recommended by the World Health Organization. Losing sleep can increase blood pressure, disrupt your body's metabolism and lead to weight gain.

Sleep helps our brain unwind, store memories and release the events of the day. Adequate sleep leads to better mood and cognitive function. Far more seriously, sleep deprivation increases one's risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Adults over 45 who get less than 6 hours of sleep a night face a 200% increased risk of having a stroke or heart attack in their lifetime.

Sleep profoundly benefits the immune system. Sleep deprivation increases your risk for cold and flu. Also, after only one night of inadequate sleep (4-5 hours), the body's Natural Killer cells drop by up to 70%. Natural Killer cells are part of the body's natural mechanism and find and kill cancer cells. Lack of sleep is linked to breast, bowel and prostate cancer. Furthermore, the World Health Organization considers any form of nighttime work to be possibly carcinogenic (meaning it can directly cause cancer).

Read the whole article for more awesome information!

Here is a link to the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/24/why-lack-of-sleep-health-worst-enemy-matthew-walker-why-we-sleep