The Amazing Powers Of Just One Extra Hour Of Sleep

The end of Daylight Saving Time ^[2] is one of our favorite excuses to sleep for an extra hour -- a decadent, once-a-year, Sunday morning treat.

Losing an hour when we "spring forward" in March does a number on the sleep-deprived: Car accidents and heart attacks spike, productivity plummets ^[3] , and many people can't get back to a normal sleep schedule for a few nights.

Falling back, on the other hand, is a much easier transition. That extra hour has some very real benefits that you can celebrate long after this weekend. Especially for those who want to make over their sleep habits, the end of Daylight Saving Time can act as a sleep-centric New Year's resolution. Starting today, add an extra hour to your nightly slumber and relish these gains.^[4]

You'll Activate Helpful Genes

A small experiment conducted by curious BBC journalists divided a small pool of volunteers into two groups. For a week, one group slept for six and a half hours a night while the other slept for seven and a half. During the second week, the two groups swapped, and researchers administered a number of blood tests and cognitive tasks. The blood tests revealed that around 500 genes were switched on or off by that additional hour of shut-eye -- for the better. The changes in genetic expression due to extra sleep helped protect against diabetes, cancer, inflammation and stress ^[5] , the BBC reported.

You'll Have A Competitive Edge

Whether you've got a big game coming up or you're hoping to beat your best marathon time, the key to training may be more sleep, not more practice. There's compelling research to suggest that just one extra hour of sleep can boost your athletic performance ^[6] -- and an extra hour on a regular basis is even better.

Your Heart Will Thank You

Heart attacks increase when Daylight Saving Time begins in March, research shows ^[7] , after we've lost that precious hour of sleep. And when it ends, heart attacks decrease. And that makes sense, given what we know about sleep and arterial health. A 2008 study showed that adults who slept for seven hours a night had a 33 percent lower chance of having calcium deposits build up in their arteries ^[8] than adults who slept for only six hours a night. The boost to overall heart health that provides is akin to dropping 16 points in systolic blood pressure, Health.com reported. Speaking of blood pressure: A 2012 study found that in short-sleeping people with hypertension or prehypertension, getting an extra hour of sleep significantly decreased their blood pressure levels ^[9] .

You'll Remember Better

sleep memory learning

Experts will tell you that waking up before your alarm is a good thing ^[10] -- it means your body got what it needed overnight. While the exact number of hours of sleep you need is hard to pinpoint, cutting it short might limit rapid eye movement or REM sleep specifically. REM sleep kicks in about 90 minutes after you fall asleep and then about every 90 minutes after that, for periods of time that lengthen throughout the night ^[11] . Your longest period of REM sleep, then, will be closer to the morning -- and a blaring alarm might nip it in the bud. That's bad news, considering REM sleep is the phase of slumber most closely linked to learning and memory ^[12] .

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You'll Look Prettier

Sleeping beauty had this one right: regular shuteye alone actually makes you look prettier, according to a 2010 <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6614.full?sid=f12d1b75-86cc-4bed-a06b-9ebc4f337b05" target="_hplink">study published in the British Medical Journal</a>.

The researchers took photos of 23 people after a normal night's sleep of eight hours and after a period of sleep deprivation. Then, a group of 65 people rated each set of photos for perceived health, attractiveness and tiredness. The sleep deprived group scored lower in all three categories.

"We propose that sleep is a cheap and effective beauty treatment, both acutely and in the long-term," John Axelsson, <a href="http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/15/5644892-want-to-look-hotter-hit-the-sack" target="_hplink">lead researcher on the study, told MSNBC</a>. "Sleep should be seen as the body's natural beauty treatment and a clear alternative or complement to other beauty treatments."

Sleep can also actually help to keep your skin in top condition. Over the long term, sleep deprivation can cause increased stress-related aging, a decreased ability to stay hydrated and a decreased ability to fight off environmental pollutants, <a href="http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/elizabeth-tanzi-md/my-1-skin-tip-beauty-sleep" target="_hplink">writes Elizabeth Tanzi, M.D. on DoctorOz.com</a>.

"The most important thing you can do for your skin may be getting a great night's sleep," dermatologist Dr. Howard Murad <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/08/image/ig-beautysleep8" target="_hplink">told the Los Angeles Times</a>.

You'll Eat Less

Both <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/sleep-weight-gain_b_1069409.html" target="_hplink">experts</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118111740.htm" target="_hplink">scientific data</a> have long connected lack of sleep with increased hunger and weight gain -- and now a recent study has quantified the phenomenon. The findings, presented last month at an American Heart Association meeting, suggest that otherwise healthy people may eat more than 500 additional calories a day when they're sleep deprived, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/sleeping-calories-eat-study_n_1345232.html" target="_hplink">the Huffington Post reported</a> when the study first came out.

You'll Make Better Decisions

Stumped? You may want to sleep on it.

A study published last year in the Journal of Sleep Research found that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00921.x/abstract;jsessionid=BE0DC54D65A3AC0DD9D825EF6AA4216B.d01t02" target="_hplink">people make smarter calls</a> after a good night's sleep. The researchers asked 54 young adults to play a card game aimed to imitate casino gambling. Those who were well-rested made decisions that resulted in greater winnings four times more often than those who were sleep deprived -- and they had a firmer grasp on the rules.

"This provides support for what Mom and Dad have always advised," lead author and psychologist Rebecca Spencer, of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110607094849.htm" target="_hplink">said in a statement</a>. "There is something to be gained from taking a night to sleep on it when you're facing an important decision. We found that the fact that you slept makes your decisions better."

You Can Ease Bad Memories

If you're sorting through a painful memory, try giving it a rest.

One small study last year found that sleep might help to <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982211012486" target="_hplink">take the edge off difficult emotional experiences</a> that happen during your waking hours.

"The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day's emotional experiences," senior author Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111123133346.htm" target="_hplink">said in a statement</a>.

But remember we're talking a solid eight-hours of shuteye -- too much sleep may be a <a href="http://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/understanding.aspx" target="_hplink">sign of depression</a>.

You Could Learn Better

You may be conditioned to think that the best way to learn is to stay up all night cramming, but the truth is that you'd be better off to get some sleep.

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/health/23iht-snsleep.1.8015084.html" target="_hplink">Several studies</a> have linked rest with increased performance on <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/a0025268" target="_hplink">learning-related tasks</a>, and now a new study has found that the timing of sleep may matter, too.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/26/learning-ability-sleep-timing_n_1378271.html?ref=sleep" target="_hplink">The researchers</a> asked more than 200 people to memorize related words (such as "fire and smoke") and unrelated words (think: "insect and truth"). When later tested for recall, those who slept just after learning performed better than those who went a whole day before sleeping.

You Can Be More Organized

Ever notice how you can read the same paragraph over and over again when you're tired, without ever really retaining anything? That same phenomenon can result in your home or work-space becoming cluttered, explains Robert Oexman, D.C., director of the <a href="http://www.sleeptolive.com" target="_hplink">Sleep to Live Institute</a> in Joplin, Mo. When humans are sleepy, they can lack the focus and drive to stay on task long enough to keep things orderly.

"Sleep-deprived people can't focus very well," he told The Huffington Post. "A lot of things are cluttered in their lives and they find themselves less organized."

You'll Have A Better Sex Life

It's the oldest excuse in the book: "Honey, I'm too tired." And while there's certainly some truth to being too exhausted to have sex, Oexman believes there's something deeper at work here. Chronic sleep deprivation can take a mental toll that affects how people perceive their own attractiveness and, in turn, sexual desire.

"They don't just not feel like it," Oexman says. "They really don't feel like it. They don't feel good about themselves."

You'll Exercise Better

Too wiped to hit the gym after work? The culprit may actually be your sleep habits, not the stress of your job. "Work should not wear you out," Oexman says -- you may be mentally exhausted, but, if you're working a desk job, you shouldn't be physically exhausted, as well. So if you feel like you just can't do it, consider upping your hours of shuteye each night.

Added bonus: sleep can actually be a boon to your athletic ability. One study published last year found a correlation between increased sleep and improved performance in elite college basketball players.

"Intuitively many players and coaches know that rest and sleep are important, but it is often the first to be sacrificed," <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110701083506.htm" target="_hplink">study author Cheri Mah</a> said in a statement. "Healthy and adequate sleep hasn't had the same focus as other areas of training for peak performance."

Some research also suggests that regular rest can aid with muscle memory, Oexman says, which helps you learn how to do all kinds of new tasks, like perfecting your golf swing.

You'll Be Easier To Get Along With

We all know a bad night's sleep can make us grumpy. And over time, that can take a real toll on your personality.

"People who don't sleep well tend to over-escalate a problem," Oexman says. In fact, one study even found that <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110615015141.htm" target="_hplink">sleep deprived people could be more likely to blame other people</a> and plan revenge against them.

"Sleepier people seem to engage in counterfactual thinking that is more dissatisfied and perhaps more selfish," study author David Mastin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110615015141.htm" target="_hplink">said in a statement</a>. "It may be that the sleepier you are, the more likely your musings are to be angry thoughts about how others could have done better."

So if you can't stop thinking how everyone else is to blame, you might want to pause to consider how many hours you've been clocking in bed each night.

Your Immunity Will Be Boosted

It's pretty much common sense that if you're rundown or exhausted, you'll be more susceptible to picking up a bad cold. But a recent study helped to explain that link further. As The Huffington Post reported <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/circadian-rhythms-immunity-immune-system_n_1281654.html" target="_hplink">when the findings were released</a>:

<blockquote>Researchers found that the body's circadian clock controls an essential immune system gene in mice -- a gene that helps the body ward off bacteria and viruses.

"People intuitively know that when their sleep patterns are disturbed, they are more likely to get sick," study author Erol Fikrig, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a press release. "It does appear that disruptions of the circadian clock influence our susceptibility to pathogens."</blockquote>