Summary Writing Exercises

Summary Writing Exercises-4

Read the passage below and list eight benefits of sleep.

Sleep

Getting enough sleep is important for our health, but do you know why? For a long time, doctors have known that a lack of sleep can cause problems, but it is only now that they are beginning to fully understand why.

Studies show that good quality sleep helps our brain to work properly by giving it time to organize our thoughts, memories, and knowledge. It is not surprising then, that sleep aids learning. Scientists and teachers generally agree that students who sleep well tend to do well at school. Other studies show that sleep supports growth in children as this is when the body makes special hormones. Children’s bodies need these hormones to develop healthy bones and organs. Doctors also think that too little sleep can lead to medical conditions like heart disease. They say having enough sleep lowers the risk of heart problems and reduces the risk of accidents too. In the UK, tiredness has been linked to hundreds of workplace accidents every year and around 20% of all traffic accidents.

Several studies have shown that people sleeping fewer than 7 hours per night are at a greater risk of weight gain as well as a higher body mass index (BMI). This is mainly due to hormonal disturbances, and a lack of motivation to exercise because of tiredness which in turn is caused by lack of good sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to an increase in the levels of ghrelin and a decrease in the levels of leptin. The increase in the hormone ghrelin makes us hungry whereas a decrease in the hormone lectin makes us feel less full after eating. This causes us to feel hungrier and overeat. It is common knowledge that sleep-deprived individuals are hungrier than those that get adequate sleep, and they tend to ingest more calories. What’s more, sleep deprivation makes you crave foods that are higher in sugar and fat due to their higher calorie content, to compensate for lack of energy,. To make matters worse, feeling exhausted after a night of too little sleep could leave you feeling unmotivated to go for a walk, hit the gym, or do whichever other physical activity you would have otherwise done. So, adequate sleep can help you maintain healthy body weight.

Although we now know a lot about sleep, there is still much doctors don’t know. One thing that is certain, however, is that good mental health is very much dependent on good sleep. Sleep deprivation makes us irritable, cross, and short-tempered. It is sleep that balances our moods and emotions, making us feel good. Mental illnesses such as depression are strongly linked to poor sleep quality and sleep.

Lack of sleep impairs immune functions too. This means that the body’s capacity to fight against diseases decreases when there is not enough sleep. Recently, some studies have even shown that getting enough sleep before and after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination may improve the efficacy of the vaccine.

So, make sure that you are getting the eight or nine hours of sleep that your body needs every night. You owe it to your mind and body!

The benefits of sleep:

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2. _________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________

4. _________________________________________________

5. _________________________________________________

6. _________________________________________________

7. _________________________________________________

8. _________________________________________________

Using the information in your notes, write a summary explaining why sleep is important, in no more than 80 words (NOT including the introductory words given).

You could begin like this:

Getting enough sleep is important because…….

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