In a society that has a tendency to value productivity and financial success over just about anything else, the benefits of sleep can be overlooked. But making sleep a priority doesn’t mean you’re lazy, nor does it get in the way of your productivity. If anything, it will help your productivity. But that’s not all, here are three other major benefits of getting a healthy amount of sleep:

• It Will improve Your Memory
  In a process called consolidation, your sleeping brain strengthens any skills or facts you learned while you were awake. If you get stable sleep for at least eight hours, whatever it is you’re trying to learn or memorize will solidify on a deeper level, allowing you to hold onto these formed memories for much longer. This is a helpful hint if you’re trying to improve grades or master a new type of dance, yes, but healthy sleep is also how you’ll form and hold onto the memories of important experiences that comprise your life, allowing you to have access to them even as you age. 
   
• It Will Boost Athletic Performance
  How many hours of nightly sleep are ideal? Most people will tell you eight. Eight is great, but according to a study conducted by Stanford University, football players who slept at least ten hours a night for seven weeks experienced longer-lasting energy throughout the day, improved stamina, and even achieved a higher sprint time. Similar results were yielded with swimmers and tennis players.
   
• It May Even Lead to a Longer Life
  In a study of women ages 50 to 79 performed in 2010, more deaths occurred in those who got less than five hours of sleep per night. This study doesn’t prove causation, as it’s quite possible that women getting less than five hours of sleep were unable to sleep longer because of a preexisting illness, in which case it would have been the illness that caused the lack of sleep, not the other way around. However, either way, this study does point to a correlation between a solid night’s sleep and a longer life.  
   

So what does this mean for you? If getting plenty of sleep is easy and enjoyable for you, you should embrace your luck, and never let anybody make you feel bad for your epic sleep life. If you struggle to get the sleep you need, understand that upping your hours will work wonders for you, so consider it a goal worthy of your attention. 

The bottom line is this: sleeping for a minimum of eight hours a night is truly good for your mind and body, and will enhance the quality of your life. If you’re not making it past five hours a night, it may be a sign that you’re working too hard, and that you should give yourself a break. A quick Google search will provide you with a robust list of ways to improve your sleep quality and get your health back on track. If your situation doesn’t improve, talk to your doctor: sleep should always be a priority, never an afterthought.