Do you value your Zzzzz

MANILA, Philippines — Sleep affects every part of life—your health, your mood and more. It can help you perform at your best, stay productive, and even help fight weight gain and depression. So if you’re ready to make the most of your day, start by improving your night.

We know that sleep is important. But do we really get enough?

So important is sleep that we even have a World Sleep Day on March 15. So,  why not see how well you’re really sleeping.

Fitbit has a built-in native sleep tracking in every one of its devices that works as seamlessly and automatically as its step tracking - helping us to understand our sleep patterns better and see if you’re clocking up enough hours of shut eye to really perform at your best.

One of the key features of Fitbit’s sleep tracking is “Sleep Insights.” Here, the app provides advice and observations based on your sleep “performance”  commending you for a regular sleep schedule or giving advice such as mentioning changing your sleep environment if you’re not sleeping well enough:

• Awake — Being awake for brief periods—between 10-30 times — is a normal part of sleep

• Light Sleep —  Usually makes up half your night and is good for memory and learning

• Deep Sleep is important for the immune system and for physical recovery from workouts.

• REM typically occurs when you’re coming out of deep sleep and helps with mental restoration.

10 reasons why we need to sleep well

 A good night’s sleep is incredibly important for your health says www.healthline.com. In fact, it’s just as important as eating healthy and exercising.

But the sad truth is that people are now sleeping less than they did in the past and sleep quality has decreased as well. Here are five reasons why good sleep is important.

1. Poor sleep can make you fat — Poor sleep is strongly linked to weight gain. People with short sleep duration tend to weigh significantly more than those who get adequate sleep. Just check out someone working in a call center after a month or two on the job.

2. Good sleep can improve concentration and productivity — Sleep is important for various aspects of brain function. This includes cognition, concentration, productivity and performance.

3. Poor sleepers have a greater risk of heart disease and stroke — It’s known that sleep quality and duration can have a major effect on many health risk factors.

4. Poor sleep is linked to depression — Mental health issues, such as depression, are strongly linked to poor sleep quality and sleeping disorders. It has been estimated that 90 percent of people with depression complain about sleep quality.

5. Sleep affects emotions and social interactions — Sleep loss reduces your ability to interact socially. Researchers believe that poor sleep affects your ability to recognize important social cues and process emotional information. You simply cannot achieve optimal health without taking care of your sleep.

Get a Fitbit and see how well or not well you are sleeping today.