Bet you’ve come across an image like this. I know I have, especially back in my college days..

It’s always funny to joke about sleep deprivation, because the content is so relatable. We’ve all had our share of high adrenaline, caffeine-packed all-nighters. And if you haven’t, wow I applaud you.

Unfortunately what dark relatable content usually reveals is a much larger problem existing in today’s society.

Hold your horses; I’m not trying to police your jokes in regards to sleep deprivation. Sometimes life just happens and a lack of sleep is inevitable. You crack a joke to make light of the situation. No big deal.

You should, however, care moreabout getting quality sleep.

Imagine a pizza without cheese..

I can feel your disgust through my screen. A pizza without cheese is flavorless and boring!

Now why are you so aghast? Because, of course, pizza and cheese go hand in hand.

Now imagine layering a pizza backwards with the pepperoni first and then the cheese..

I’m not sure about you, but that idea makes me cringe. It doesn’t look or taste right to add the pepperoni before the cheese. The cheese would smother the pepperonis, preventing them from crisping. Plus why else would pepperoni be named a topping?

Well, that tragic depiction of a cheeseless pizza is you without sleep. The toppings are essentially your goals and ambitions.

You need the cheese (quality sleep) for the pizza to taste good as a whole (function properly). You also always layer on the pepperoni before the cheese (you can’t effectively reach your goals without quality sleep). Sleep is the bare necessity!

I gave you this visual representation because sleep is difficult to evaluate. What makes it so? The effects of sleep deprivation are largely internal; it’s hard to put a finger on why you don’t feel good. In comparison, time, meals, and other aspects of life are more easily quantifiable; for example, you worked for 8 hoursyesterday and ate 2 apples + 1 sandwichfor lunch. We thus tend to make the mistake of prioritizing our time efficiency or diet plan over good sleep. But getting quality sleep is leaps and bounds more important.

If you still aren’t convinced, here are some hard-hitting facts why you need to care more about getting quality sleep:

1. Sleep loss ruins your diet

A lack of sleep both reduces your ability to lose fat and increases your hunger! The worst part is you won't be craving broccoli or kale; your appetite for french fries and other dense, high-calorie foods will increase.

A study examined the dietary outcomes of individuals with a good 7 hours of sleep compared to those with only 5 hours of sleep.

Shockingly, the participants with good rest lost 55% more body fat than the participants with bad rest. To get scientific: with a lack of sleep, (1) the oxidation of body fat is reduced, and (2) the levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes you hungry, rise significantly.

2. Good sleep keeps you healthy

Your heart and gut are happy when you get a full night’s rest. Bad sleep, on the other hand, puts you more at risk for heart disease/stroke and inflammatory bowel disease.

Why is that? Sleep gives your heart and blood vessels a break, reducing your blood pressure. When you don’t sleep, your blood pressure remains high and your body works harder to keep it up.

Sleep also strengthens your immune system. While you are having your sweet dreams, your body releases proteins called cytokines that protect you when you have an infection. When you don’t sleep, you reduce the number of infection-fighting cells and antibodies in your body. This makes you more prone to getting sick and staying sick.

3. Sleep deprivation is being drunk, with all the risk and none of the fun

Just one night without sleep is enough to make you “drunk”. It can bring your blood-alcohol level to 0.1%, which is above the legal limit to drive!

When you are sleep-deprived make sure to think twice before engaging in your normal tasks. You may just be placing yourself and others at risk of a deadly accident.

4. Your athletic performance drops without sleep

Aside from the obvious of feeling tired, your accuracy and response time remarkably decrease with less sleep.

Stanford University conducted a study linking sleep and athletics on its men's basketball team. The players aimed to sleep 10 hours during a 7 week period. The results were a free throw accuracy increase of 9%, a 3-point goal increase of 9.2%, and a faster overall sprint time.

Just about to shoot some hoops? Take a nap first!

5. Sleep deprivation dumbs you down

Not only does sleep deprivation impair your ability to remember things and make decisions, but it also severely decreases your productivity. If you don't have good rest, you are setting yourself up for failure in achieving your daily goals.

Even worse your innovative and creative abilities suffer from sleeplessness. If you have a left-brained job like design, writing, or acting, sleep is especially important for you.

6. Sleep improves your mood and anxiety

One study discovered that sleeplessness amplifies brain regions that are known to contribute to excessive worrying, resulting in stress and anxiety. People with insomnia are 5x more likely to experience depression! This statistic is shocking, but now I understand why organizations like NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) place such high importance on healthy sleep habits.

Moreover, good sleep keeps you engaged and motivated throughout your day while poor sleep puts you in an irritable mood. Besides the chemical aspect of mood change, when your body is lagging you feel out of control. Tripping over rocks or spilling tea on your lap makes you think the world is against you. Really, it's your insufficient sleep that's the enemy.

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The outward differences between someone who is well-rested versus someone who has been awake the entire night may seem subtle, but peek inside and the chemistry comparison of those two individuals couldn't be any more different.

Science is screaming at you to get more quality sleep!

Fortunately if you've made it here you are already more intentional about your sleep than you were at the start of this post. By merely reading these facts, you are more self-aware of how your sleep affects you.

Where do you go from here? If you are a great sleeper and just needed this push to start prioritizing sleep, then great! Commence your 8 hours of quality rest tonight!

However, if you’re like me and fallingasleep is an issue in itself, caringmore about sleep only gets you so far.

Nothing feels worse than lying in bed at 2am, begging your mind to turn off. I've personally experienced this situation on the daily back when I was in middle school.

That is why I am going to extensively dig through scientific research, home remedies, and my own insights, to give you (and myself) the most valuable solutions to get better sleep. Keep an eye out for those helpful tips in my next post! Hopefully then we can all get the peaceful rest that we need, desire, and deserve.