World Sleep Day 2020

It’s that time of year again! World Sleep Day 2020 is Friday, March 13th.

Wait… You haven’t heard of World Sleep Day??

Oh well, that’s understandable. Most people haven’t heard of this rather obscure annual event. In the grand scheme of things, it may not seem like a very important thing to recognize with it’s own special day. And it may not be something that feels all that urgent to give your attention to or act on in your busy life.

Even if we don’t send out World Sleep Day greeting cards, emails, Facebook posts, or buy World Sleep Day presents for each other, or sit down to a big World Sleep Day feast…or even think about it at all, I would argue that sleep is a very important thing to give our attention to. And not just on this one day.

Good sleep is crucial to so many aspects of our existence. It may not even be an overstatement to say every aspect of our existence. Our health – physical, mental and emotional – our family life, work life, spiritual life: they’re all affected by how well-rested and refreshed we are by sleep.

You know all this. We all do, and yet most of us continue to neglect our biological need for sleep in order to work more, play more, watch more TV or hang out on social media until the wee hours.

Sleep Could Be Especially Important Right Now

But consider this. In this time of Coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns, we all need our immune systems to be working as efficiently and effectively as possible. Everything we can do to support our bodies’ ability to fight off disease and infection is extremely important and should be a top priority.

We’re hearing from the experts:

wash your hands frequently
don’t touch your face
keep away from obviously sick people
be especially mindful of cleanliness and disinfect things we or others touch
work at home if possible
avoid large crowds

I’d like to add one more thing to the list:

be sure to get the quantity and quality of sleep you need to feel your absolute best

Sleep and the Immune System

Sleep supports the immune system’s ability to fight off viruses, infection and inflammation. Or put another way, lack of good sleep can mean you are more susceptible to getting sick, and it may take you longer to recover if you do get sick.

That’s not all. The National Sleep Foundation says that “Chronic sleep loss even makes the flu vaccine less effective by reducing your body’s ability to respond.”

We don’t have a vaccine for the Coronavirus quite yet, but you know it’s only a matter of time. And we’ve been hearing the awful statistics that the flu affects hundreds of thousands and even kills tens of thousands every year, and we do have a vaccine for that each year.

So, when you’re considering what you need to do to protect yourself and your loved ones from this scary disease, remember that getting plenty of good, restful sleep should be high up on that list.

And what a great way to celebrate World Sleep Day 2020 that is!

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If you’re looking for help getting that great sleep we all want, check out some of our articles like:

The Right Sleep Environment
What Is Sleep Hygiene?
The Case For Better Bedding
Sleep Aids: Are They Right For You?