Everyone has done it – its 1am and the show you have been binge watching all week has its season finale fast approaching. So what do you do? Of course you watch the final two episodes and end up in bed by 3am- but there’s more. You have work tomorrow and need to wake up in a couple hours! Staying up late when you have work the next morning, is setting yourself up for disaster. Here is why your sleep is a wiser choice than watching Game of Thrones until the wee hours of the morning:
1. It is unhealthy to stay up late- When you stay up late, especially while being stimulated the light of a TV, you burn through the chemical melatonin in your body that helps you get to sleep. So once you are actually done watching your show, it will be harder to get to sleep. Reduced sleep has been known to throw your hormones out of whack, which can lead to weight gain and emotional issues, such as increased stress.
2. It is bad for your work – Whether you work at a desk or a physical job like construction, not sleeping enough will affect the quality of your work. Being in a bad mood and lethargic due to sleep deprivation certainly won’t help you get that promotion you’ve been wanting. Employers and co-workers will easily pick up on that if you aren’t carrying your share of the work because you are completely exhausted from the night before.
3. Quality over quantity- When you decide to finish that series or season finale at the expense of your sleep, it not only decreases the amount of hours you are able to sleep but it decreases the quality of sleep as well. It is a double-edged sword as the chances of getting quality sleep are directly related to the amount of hours your body needs per night. Not to mention if you happen to fall asleep while your TV is on, your sleep will be negatively affected. It will throw a wrench in your body’s natural cycle of sleeping by over stimulating your senses and lead to shallow sleep.