Detox Sleep: What is it and What are its Benefits?
Did you know that during sleep your brain puts into place a series of mechanisms to regenerate your body? In fact, people are often ignorant of the impact that good sleep has on their physical and mental health. However, the practice of detox or restorative sleep has recently become rather popular.
In this article, you’ll learn about detox sleep and the benefits you can get from it. All you need to do is analyze your sleeping habits and introduce some new ones. In this way, bedtime will become rather like a spa session, helping you to feel a lot better.
Detox sleep
In recent years, the use of the word “detox” has become extremely popular when talking about products that are cleansing for the body. These are substances that promote the elimination of toxins found in your body, thus improving your health. They might range from special juices to more complex treatments with various types of ingredients.
Following along the same lines, detox sleep is a practice with health-giving properties for the body and mind. When we start to take a look at it, we realize that the idea isn’t exactly new. Indeed, it’s really nothing more than good sleeping habits. With these, you achieve better rest and take care of your health at the same time.
Sleep disorders, a worldwide epidemic
Sleep is part of the natural cycle of all human beings and plays a fundamental role in our mental and physical health. However, in today’s society, more and more people find it difficult to get proper rest.
In 2018, Chattu et al (2018) conducted research on sleep problems worldwide. The results revealed that lack of rest is a practically universal public health problem.
In addition, the researchers found that sleeping difficulties are associated with an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline.
Furthermore, sleep disorders are positively related to work and traffic accidents. Therefore, it not only comes at a cost in the realms of health but also the economy. Hence the promotion of the idea that we should use detox sleep to help us stay in the best of health.
Benefits of detox sleep
You’ve already seen how a lack of sleep has negative effects on your physical and psychological functions. For this reason, developing good rest habits generates positive changes in both areas. Next, you’ll learn about the benefits of a good night’s sleep for your body and mind.
Effects on your physical health
While you sleep, your body activates a set of processes that repair and balance your bodily functions. In this way, getting enough rest guarantees you a better physical condition and a longer life expectancy. Some of the benefits are:
- Lower risk of infections. Your immune system depends on the quality of your sleep to do its job. Therefore, sleeping well strengthens your defenses and reduces your chances of suffering infections from viruses, bacteria, or fungi.
- Cell regeneration. Growth hormone is released during sleep. This promotes your cell and tissue regeneration. It also increases muscle mass and promotes the healthy development of children and adolescents.
- Lower risk of obesity. Poor sleep unbalances your levels of ghrelin and leptin. These hormones are responsible for your feelings of hunger and satiety. In fact, when you don’t sleep well, you feel hungrier and less full when you eat, hence you tend to eat more.
- Cardiovascular health. While you rest, your blood vessels and heart regenerate. Consequently, sleep helps improve your cardiovascular health.
- Rejuvenates the skin. Rest promotes the production of collagen. This is a protein that contributes to the elasticity of your skin. In turn, sleeping facilitates the regeneration of skin cells.
Effects on your mental health
On the other hand, psychological processes also benefit from detox sleep. Remember, your brain and neurons are organs and tissues like others, so they need to regenerate. Among the positive effects of sleep on your mental health are the following:
- Promotes emotional processing. In 2018, Tempesta et al conducted a study that claimed that sleep favors the formation of emotional memory. At the same time, it improves emotional reactions, since it makes them more adaptive.
- Prevents neuropsychiatric disorders. In 2020, Briguglio et al conducted research that indicated good sleep hygiene reduces the likelihood of neuropsychiatric conditions. In fact, if applied together with a balanced diet and regular exercise, sleep becomes a protective factor against these ailments.
- Enhances learning. As you sleep, your brain creates new neural connections that increase your ability to learn and remember information.
- It allows you to choose wisely. Another benefit associated with getting a good night’s sleep is your ability to make decisions. Indeed, when you rest, your ability to solve problems improves, meaning you make better decisions.
How to get a detox sleep
Now that you know what the advantages of detox sleep are, it’s important that you educate yourself on how to obtain it. However, to enjoy the benefits of restful sleep, it’s essential to improve your sleep habits. With this objective in mind, here are a number of actions for you to practice:
- Try to have dinner before 8:00 pm.
- Set a bedtime that allows you to rest for at least seven hours.
- Eliminate any noise that might disturb your sleep. For example, remember to silence your mobile so that notifications don’t wake you up.
- Lights may hamper your quality of sleep, so avoid leaving lights and appliances on.
- Do some relaxing activity before bed, like taking a warm bath or reading.
- Using your mobile or computer up until bedtime can cause insomnia. Therefore, it’s best to remove yourself from these screens a few hours before bed.
Finally, keep in mind that the key to improving your sleep hygiene is to be consistent. Initially, you may find it a little difficult to adjust to a detox sleep routine. However, once you put it into practice and start to enjoy its benefits, it’ll become much easier. Furthermore, in the long run, you’ll enjoy better overall health.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Briguglio, M., Vitale, J. A., Galentino, R., Banfi, G., Zanaboni Dina, C., Bona, A., Panzica, G., Porta, M., Dell’Osso, B., & Glick, I. D. (2020). Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Sleep Hygiene (HEPAS) as the Winning Triad for Sustaining Physical and Mental Health in Patients at Risk for or with Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Considerations for Clinical Practice. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 16, 55–70. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S229206
- Chattu, V. K., Manzar, M. D., Kumary, S., Burman, D., Spence, D. W., & Pandi-Perumal, S. R. (2018). The Global Problem of Insufficient Sleep and Its Serious Public Health Implications. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 7(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7010001.
- Escobar, Carolina, González Guerra, Eduardo, Velasco-Ramos, Mario, Salgado-Delgado, Roberto, & Angeles-Castellanos, Manuel. (2013). La mala calidad de sueño es factor promotor de obesidad. Revista mexicana de trastornos alimentarios, 4(2), 133-142. Recuperado en 21 de octubre de 2021, de http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2007-15232013000200007&lng=es&tlng=es.
- Guzmán, E. (1995). Sueño y aprendizaje. Revista de psicología general y aplicada: Revista de la Federación Española de Asociaciones de Psicología , 48 (3), 271-282.
- Holding BC, Sundelin T, Cairns P et al. The effects of sleep deprivation on objective and subjective measures of facial appearance. J Sleep Res 2019; Apr 21; Epub ahead of print.
- Rico-Rosillo, María Guadalupe, & Vega-Robledo, Gloria Bertha. (2018). Sueño y sistema inmune. Revista alergia México, 65(2), 160-170. https://doi.org/10.29262/ram.v65i2.359.
- Tempesta, D., Socci, V., De Gennaro, L., & Ferrara, M. (2018). Sleep and emotional processing. Sleep medicine reviews, 40, 183-195.
