Prioritizing This One Habit in 2025 Will Change Your Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
Out of all the things you prioritize in your life, is sleep one of them? Studies say it should be, and as we head into the new year, getting enough sleep might be key to your New Year’s resolutions.
Researchers from the University of South Carolina, CQUniversity Australia and the University of Surrey conducted a study on the importance of getting some Zs each night and found it to be of the utmost importance.
“When our ability to control what we do is depleted by sleepiness, we tend to act more on ‘autopilot,’ with minimal forethought,” said Amanda Rebar, an associate professor of health promotion education and behavior and director of the Motivation and Health Behavior Lab at USC’s Arnold School of Public Health. “Our study shows this definitively: people were more likely to act habitually when they reported feeling sleepy. While this can result in higher levels of good habits, it can also lead individuals to fall back on bad habits.”
READ MORE: DOES SCREEN TIME BEFORE BED REALLY AFFECT SLEEP HEALTH?
About a fourth of Americans feel tired daily, and that’s not a good thing as it can harm our ability to accomplish tasks. Rebar added, “Acting in line with our preferences requires willful determination. Feeling sleepy diminishes our ability to exert that determination over other competing desires and temptations. That can lead us to act habitually, in a way that goes against our goals.”
Being sleepy can also prevent us from making positive changes.
Co-author of the study Benjamin Gardner said, “When we’re trying to make positive changes to our behavior, feeling drowsy can put us at real risk of lapsing back into our old, unwanted bad habits. Lapsing can cause us to lose confidence in our ability to change and make us give up.”
Along with mental wellbeing, sleep is vital to our physical wellbeing too.
“Sleep impacts all of your body systems — cardiovascular, muscular, nervous, endocrine, skeletal, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and the reproductive system. Sleep also affects metabolism, and is closely linked to weight gain and loss. Poor sleep also has been linked to cancer, injuries, poor brain health and even an increased risk of glaucoma,” Sleep Health revealed.
If you aren’t getting enough sleep, consider adding to your list of New Year’s resolutions.
The Mayo Clinic suggests six steps to improve your sleep quality:
1. Stick to a sleep schedule
2. Pay attention to what you eat and drink
3. Create a restful environment
4. Limit daytime naps
5. Include physical activity in your daily routine
6. Manage worries
READ MORE: NIGHTLY SCREEN TIME HARMS KIDS’ MENTAL HEALTH, SLEEP PATTERNS
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