It’s universally understood, significant responsibilities come along with being a stepdad. Your family relies on you for financial and emotional support.
Also, a bit of a challenge can be added if you’re encountering issues with your stepchildren. Surprisingly, there’s this secret tool that will help you ease your problem or prevent any issues in the future – getting enough sleep.
How does sleep affect your work and relationships? Continue reading to know more.
1. Adequate Sleep Contributes Happiness
In a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found subjects who are limited to only 4.5 hours of sleep a night for a week reported feeling more
- stressed,
- angry,
- sad and
- mentally exhausted.
Studies also indicated an increase in negative moods such as
- frustration,
- anger,
- irritability,
- sadness and
- a decrease in positive moods.
However, upon returning to normal sleep, there was a dramatic mood improvement. Conclusively, mood and sleep are closely related to each other.
Getting enough sleep will give you a feeling of well-being. Thus, employees who sleep the required number of hours tend to feel happier, more energetic and more prepared to do the day’s task.
Moreover, interpersonal relationships are also improved if the mood is uplifted by getting adequate sleep.
As a stepdad who needs to maintain his job and maintain a good relationship with his colleagues, sleep is a necessity. It also promotes a happier mood.
An enthusiastic employee is a must have in the workplace. Enthusiasm is contagious.
So if the head of the family displays this kind of character, he’s creating a wholesome environment for his family members.
2. Sleep Improves Relationship
Sleep has a big impact on maintaining a healthy relationship between spouses. According to Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a longtime relationship scientist and director of the Ohio State Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research said the lack of sleep hurts the relationship.
It’s like looking at the world through dark glasses. Also, their moods are poorer and grumpier.
Subjects in her study were married from three to 27 years. They varied in the amount of sleep they spent – anywhere from three to nine hours a night.
Each couple made two visits to the lab, discussing the issues caused the most conflict. The researchers analyze the data gathered and discovered a clear pattern.
The study suggests that couples were more likely to be hostile, like arguing about the child’s party, when both are sleeping less than seven hours of sleep. To prevent worse things to happen, Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist/sleep medicine specialist suggest going to bed at the same time.
It makes both partners feel more positive the next day. Also, this is often key for cuddling, which makes people feel nurtured and relaxed.
It can inspire feelings of happiness, comfort, love, satisfaction, bonding, and feeling appreciated and a time during partners talk about the future, work, family, and friends. You can get more ideas on how to have better sleep in this Counting Sheep Research.
3. You’ll Problem Solve Better
Have you ever struggled to solve a level in Candy Crush or completing a Sudoku puzzle in the evening but easily solved it the following morning? It’s amazing to know it’s sleep that makes the difference.
In a study conducted at the German University of Luebeck, a math test was given to a group of sleep-deprived people and a group of a group who had eight hours of sleep. The result suggests those who sleep eight hours were three times more likely to figure out the hidden rule to arrive at the right answer.
Our brain holds much more information and knowledge and sleep allows us to access these. This process is termed “spreading activation” which allows your brain to seek other associations which might help solve the problem.
Problems are unavoidable, in work and even at home. So, if you encounter difficulties in the workplace or the house that needs an immediate response, sleep on it!
It should be no surprise when you wake up with efficient and creative solutions already in mind.
4. Improved Memory and Learning
Did you forget your scheduled meeting today or your wife’s birthday? Are you having a hard time recalling the faces of the people you meet?
Forgetting might ruin your relationship! If this happens to you, your body is telling you something.
Researchers believed sleep affects both learning and memory in two distinct ways:
- sleep impairs one’s ability to focus and acquire new learnings efficiently, and
- it is necessary to consolidate a memory to be recalled in the future.
Both acquisition and recall occur during wakefulness, but research suggests memory consolidation takes place during sleep. It strengthens the neural connections that form our memories.
Our brain will have a hard time absorbing and recalling information when it does not get adequate sleep.
Takeaway
Above all, maintaining a healthy lifestyle will be a lot easier if you get adequate sleep. A lot of research has proved its impact on the family relationship, a happier mood in the workplace and improving memory and learning.
With these relevance laid in this article, there is no reason why you should not reward yourself with sound sleep.
