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Yawning much? Feeling grumpy lately? Low on energy? What’s with the tired look? 

Our guess - you are not getting enough shut-eye time lately!

Getting enough sleep is as important for your body as it is to eat right or exercise! Your body and mind need sleep to recharge themselves. But unfortunately, more and more people are falling victim to sleeplessness. This problem is commonly faced by men and women. But today we will only talk about women’s sleep habits and how lack of sleep can affect their bodies. 

Women’s sleep cycle gets impacted due to many physical, psychological, societal and cultural reasons. Even menstrual cycle affects your sleep cycle. Even not following a proper women’s health diet can impact your sleep patterns. 

And the cost of sleepless nights is more than just a bad mood and lack of focus. It can result in reduced productivity, lowered immunity levels, weight loss, mental problems, hormonal disbalance and much more! 

Below are a few things that get impacted due to irregular sleep cycle:  

1. Sleepiness dumbs you down
   Sleep plays a critical role in thinking and learning. Not getting enough sleep hurts your cognitive processes in many ways. It impairs attention, reduces concentration, reasoning and hampers problem-solving abilities. Secondly, when you are sleeping, your mind starts ‘consolidating’ memories in the mind. If you do not get enough sleep, you won’t even be able to remember much of what you learned and experienced during the day. Sleep quality is important in order to stay productive and maintain a quality of living. 
   
   
2. Reduced sleep = bad mood
   
   You must have heard the phrase “Getting up on the right side of the bed.” Actually, it has nothing to do with the side of the bed you roll out of, it actually means waking up fully rested after a good night’s sleep. If you sleep well, your body is full of energy. And when your energy levels are up, your challenges do not annoy you much and you tackle them with full enthusiasm. But when your body is not functioning as per your will and requirement, you feel irritated and unhappy. So, go to bed on time and wake up with a smile on your face! 
   
   
3. Ages your skin 
   
   Night sleep is called beauty sleep for a reason!
   Puffy eyes and sallow skin - you would have already experienced this after missing on goodnight’s sleep for a few days. But it turns out that chronic loss of sleep can lead to dull skin, fine lines, and dark circles. 
   This is because lack of sleep forces your body to release more of the stress hormone called cortisol. This hormone breaks down skin collagen (the protein that ensures skin elasticity and smoothness). Additionally, lack of sleep also means lesser growth hormones. So no more repairing your skin! Hence, keep your sleep cycle in check to get that glowy skin every day!
   
   
   Bottom line is, maintain a healthy sleeping pattern for a healthier life! Do not compromise on your Zzzzs in order to binge-watch entire season’s in one night. Leave your phone aside and maintain a healthy diet! And if you need help with planning the right diet for yourself, then have a look at andMe’s Diet and Health plan. While getting a diet plan for weight loss is quite common, you can actually choose and select the diet plan which suits your unique requirement.