Do I shutdown my laptop computer or put it to sleep henceforth?

I sleep my computer most of the time myself.   There aren't any issues with this.  I do reboot weekly, and most months the Windows updates will require a reboot.

When you use Sleep the RAM (memory) will still be powered. This is because the memory holds all the information about what is currently going on, such as what programs you have open, what websites are open in your browser and so on. If the memory isn't powered it will lose all information immediately. So when you Sleep the PC you basically keep on powering the RAM to maintain the current state of the computer. I'm not exactly sure how much power will be consumed, but it's definitely a lot less than keeping the entire system powered. If you want to use Sleep for an extended period Hibernation is another option. It works more or less the same, as it maintains the current state of the computer, but without any power consumption. This is because all the information stored in the memory (RAM) is written to the hard drive, and when you wake it up from hibernation all this stuff gets copied back into the memory and the computer is able to resume its previous state. There should be no problems or risks associated with using the sleep feature at all. You might however need to fully shut it down (or reboot) once in a while. It could be once a week or every month, it all depends on what you do on your computer, how stable it is and so on. Since the operating system etc. isn't read from the harddrive too often when you're using sleep, it will (at least in theory) improve the lifespan of your hard drive.

It wont damage your system, it may actually increase its lifespan because the moving parts are shut down, and those are the main things that will die. It will conserve power, not enough to lower your electric bill, but that is why I have my laptop set to auto sleep, so if it is off the wire it will conserve power.