Much like a healthy diet and regular physical activity, sleep plays a big part in your overall health. Sleep allows your brain to form new pathways to help you learn, supports healthy organ, muscle, and tissue function, and helps regulate your hormones. While everyone is different, the National Sleep Foundation recommends between seven and nine hours of sleep per night for most adults. And although most people will toss and turn sometimes, regular lack of sleep — less than six hours each night — can raise your risk for serious health problems, including:
Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries
Diabetes
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Kidney disease
Obesity