Now that the days are getting shorter and we get less sun and light, many of us would like to hibernate. Unlike some representatives of the animal world, however, this is not granted to us. But just as many of us do not allow ourselves enough sleep per night. There is nothing more wonderful than to cuddle up in the cozy warm sheets and book a long journey to the land of dreams. And apart from this poetic approach, enough sleep is still health-promoting. So who wants to have more of life should overslept a good deal of it! A post in the Huffington Post now listed what means more or less for our body just 1 hour per night: Good for the heart: When the time changes from winter to summer time, we "lose" an hour – in our sleep. And in just that time, the numbers of heart attacks are piling up. Not surprising, because sleep is essential for the health of our arteries: a study from 2008 showed that people with 6 hours, as opposed to 7 hours of sleep, on average have 33 percent more calcium deposits in the vessels. In addition, sufficient sleep helps with hypertension. Forget-me-not: Our body goes through several sleep phases within one night, each lasting about 90 minutes. At the end of this period, you enter the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase, which becomes especially intense in the morning. If one of these phases is interrupted – for example by the alarm clock – this has a negative influence on our ability to learn and remember, because the number of complete REM phases is important for its functioning. Activation of helpful genes: A BBC study showed that in people who slept for 7.5 hours versus 6.5 hours, approximately 500 genes were positively affected and better protected against diabetes, cancer, inflammation and stress. Power through recovery: Various studies show that sleep before competitions or big tasks is particularly important. In spite of intensive training or learning phases you should definitely not give up the recovery phases, because otherwise the result is negatively influenced by the lack of sleep.