Getting enough sleep is important for many reasons, but mostly because when your body is fully rested you operate at the optimal level. That is to say that when you have gotten enough rest your body can react faster, recall information quicker, and simply respond with agility. However, when you are sleepy or not resting well your entire body suffers and the less sleep you get the more problems you will have with your memory, your body, as well as your coordination. Because of this it is utmost importance to get an adequate amount of sleep each and every night to give your body time to rest, heal, and prepare itself to operate at full capacity the next day. If you don't you won't perform as well at work, might fall asleep while driving, and your reflexes will be the equivalent of someone who has drunk a beer or two.

Memory
When you don't sleep at least 8 hours a night your memory is not as sharp as it could be. In fact, some studies show that individuals who do not sleep enough each night have similar effects on their memory as if they were a senior citizen. Not all memory tasks are affected the same way by sleep deprivation and in fact some memory tasks are incredibly vulnerable to a lack of sleep while others seem to fair pretty well. For example, individuals who were sleep deprived for 35 hours still recognized faces of famous people and family members although the same individuals had a difficult time remembering the context of the photos when asked. Regardless of what type of memory is affected it is a hard fact that those who are sleep deprived are also depriving themselves of their memory response and functionality.

Several studies have found that deep REM sleep is the most important sleep to receive, especially for skill type memory and procedural memory. So, the more sleep you get, especially deep sleep, means the better memory you will have and your recall will be significantly better as well. There are three types of memory storage that researchers have found. The include stabilization, consolidation and re-consolidation. Studies show that stabilization alone can take up to six hours of sleep. So, individuals who get less sleep than that are really wreaking havoc with their memory skills.

Physical Effects of Sleep Deprivation
The memory is not the only thing affected when an individual is sleep deprived. In fact, there are many physical effects as well that can be impairing if one has been deprived of sleep for a long period of time. When one is sleep deprived they will have slower reaction times and require more effort to perform activities. Despite this many researchers believe that the physical body is not overly affected by sleep deprivation and that when one is sleep deprived it affects the brain significantly more than the body. Regardless, not getting enough sleep has plenty of side effects.

Many bodily functions are impaired by a lack of sleep and coordination is one of them. It has been shown through studies that just after 20 hours of sleep deprivation coordination through eye hand movements are diminished. Also, not getting enough of shut eye can result in shorter attention span, poor judgment, impact work efficiency, reduced alertness, reduced concentration, cause moodiness, or even blow ups, and even result in a loss of motivation. Because of these effects it is very important to get enough sleep in order to perform as well as you possibly can during the day.

If you don't get enough sleep and are experiencing some of these side effects of sleep deprivation on your physical and mental performances there are some things you can do to help. For example, you can set a bedtime for yourself and follow it. There is nothing wrong with going to be early. Also, avoid caffeine or alcohol before you go to sleep, and simply find a way to relax before you get in bed. Meditation, yoga, and even a hot cup of milk are things that are likely to help you calm down, relax, and fall asleep faster. Your doctor has prescription drugs that can help you get some sleep if you have serious problems, but it is best to try and get some shut eye the old natural way if at all possible. You will notice that when you get enough sleep your memory will improve as well as your eye hand coordination and other physical actions.