1. Your mind needs quiet time

During the day, our senses are constantly bombarded with sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. You may think you are used to it by now, but the only way your brain is able to process and organize that information is through sleep, specifically during the REM stage.

When you sleep, your brain is not being inundated with all sorts of information thus allowing it to strengthen the neural connections it's already made during wakefulness. If you turn your back on sleep, you would still be able to form connections and memories, but they would be weak and unstable, disrupting your brain's ability to retrieve information.

According to a Harvard articleby Dr. Robert Stickgold, "Research suggests that sleep helps learning and memory in two distinct ways. First, a sleep-deprived person cannot focus attention optimally and therefore cannot learn efficiently. Second, sleep itself has a role in the consolidation of memory, which is essential for learning new information."

As tempting as it may be for your student to pull an all-nighter in preparation for tomorrow's exam, she would be better suited to go to bed early, get a healthy amount of sleep and wake up earlier to study for her exam.

2. Your physical performance significantly decreases

"Not getting enough sleep has been linked to a laundry list of mental and physical health problems, including those that stem from an impaired immune system," wrote Denise Mann in her WebMD article, Can Better Sleep Mean Catching Fewer Colds? Our immune system is designed to protect us from colds, flu, and other ailments, but when it is not functioning properly, it fails to do its job. The consequences can include more sick days."

You may also have to pay a few more visits to the doctor, since your immune system and sleep are heavily linked. Sleep deprivation hinders the production of T-cells, which are basically the cells in your body that fight off infection and viruses. So, not only do you feel miserable and tired, but you have to pay for it (literally) as well.

Our body is designed to trigger signals at times of need. It signals when it is hungry and needs energy, and it signals when it is tired and needs to be rested. Just as poor eating habits create an adverse effect on the body, so can inadequate sleeping patterns.

3. You have a better attitude

Did your temper get out of hand today? Are you feeling stressed and out of focus? Is your outlook on life negative and cynical? Maybe the answer is to get in your eight hours. People have reported significantly better attitudes when they get enough sleep, not to mention lower levels of stress, depression and anxiety.

There is no simple answer as to why sleep affects your mood, but it has to do with your energy. It takes energy to go through your daily life, and when you don't have sufficient energy to do that, you become frustrated and stressed.

We all need our sleep, but the amount varies with age. According to the National Sleep Foundation, toddlers around one to two years need an average of 11 to 14 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. School-aged children around the ages of 6 to 13 years need approximately 9 to 11 hours of sleep.

Ironically, this is the age where responsibilities and activities that occur outside of the home demand much of your child's time. So it's important to teach your children the importance of time management to better maintain a healthy sleep schedule. You want to establish healthy sleep habits now that can carry your child into his later years.

For adults, the predominant number is eight hours. By the way, honoring a healthy sleep schedule is a wonderful example for your children. If they see you regularly pulling an all-nighter to get a project finished, the lesson is learned quickly.

Not only does sleep make you feel good, it's a necessary component to functioning properly. Sleep strengthens your mind, your body, your immune system, and your disposition. So, grab your pillow. You're not just sleeping, you are building a better, stronger and healthier you - one dream at a time.

The post Stop yawning. 3 reasons why you need more sleep appeared first on FamilyToday.

Sure, we all know water is good for you. But when was the last time you drank eight glasses of water normally, without forcing it? Not only is it uncomfortable having that much liquid in your stomach, recent studies show it's not healthy, either. In some extreme cases it has even led to death. Here are some reasons why too much of a good thing can cause more harm than benefits.

1. Consuming too much water hinders your body's ability to get rid of waste

When you drink more water you urinate more, right? You would think that means you are getting rid of the waste quicker. But studies have shown that when you urinate excessively your kidneys have to work overtime to try stabilizing your system.

Your kidneys' function is to sift excess waste and water out of the bloodstream, but when you drink too much water, there is a lot more blood for your kidneys to clean.

"If you drink too much water too quickly, the blood becomes diluted and the kidneys cannot filter it fast enough to maintain the proper sodium balance," explained Jill Lee in her article, "Can Drinking Too Much Water Hurt Your Kidneys" for Livestrong.com. "This condition is called hyponatremia and causes symptoms including fatigue, nausea, vomiting and frequent urination."

2. Excessive water negatively affects the brain

While studies show water can help memory and focus, they also show that too much water can have the opposite effect. We already know that too much water dilutes your blood. But when your kidneys are unable to get rid of the excess water, the cells in your body swell and take in more and more water to relieve the burden on the kidneys.

"Most cells have room to stretch because they are embedded in flexible tissues such as fat and muscle, but this is not the case for neurons. Brain cells are tightly packaged inside a rigid boney cage, the skull, and they have to share this space with blood and cerebrospinal fluid, explains Wolfgang Liedtke, a clinical neuroscientist at Duke University Medical Center in the published article, "Strange but True - Drinking Too Much Water Dan Kill" for Scientific American. "Inside the skull there is almost zero room to expand and swell," he says.

As a result, some people experience seizures, coma, respiratory problems, even death.

3. It wears out your circulatory system

When you drink too much water your body expands to accommodate all the water it doesn't need and can't process, and, much like clothes that don't fit get stretched and worn out quicker, the blood vessel walls wear out from taking on the excess fluid.

It also dilutes the amount of sodium in your blood, which your whole body needs in order to function. This means that your blood has to go through your body more times in order to get the appropriate amount of sodium to the rest of your cells. This also puts strain on your body because they aren't getting the chemicals they need.

The same thing happens to your cells and kidneys. So, even if you stop drinking so much water, you could still have problems with your kidneys because they have been repeatedly flooded with surplus fluid.

The best practice would be to monitor your body's reaction to the amount of water you consume rather than focusing on the quantity.

According to Healthline.com, during a typical day, women should aim to drink 2.2 liters of fluids per day. Men should aim for 3 liters. When you are adequately hydrated, your urine will be pale yellow and you will not feel thirsty.

You should increase your water consumption in situations such as experiencing warmer weather, higher altitudes, during excessive exercise, you are pregnant or breastfeeding, experiencing a fever, or when you are recovering from an illness which included vomiting or diarrhea.

For maintaining proper diet, nothing beats water. But, as with most things in life, balancing our diet and daily habits can open up the door to better, and smarter, healthy living.

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