Humans have biological, psychological, social, and cultural needs. Being a physically and mentally healthy individual depends on meeting these basic needs. Sleep is one of such basic human needs, just as important on our physical health as the most essential needs like nutrition, breathing, and excretion. For this reason, sleep is seen as vital to our wellness, affecting an individual’s quality of life and well-being. Every individual needs different amounts of sleep to have a healthy and productive day. The amount of sleep that people need may vary according to their age, health, environment, and lifestyle. However, as a rule of thumb, we can say that roughly 8 hours of a night’s sleep is sufficient and healthy for many.
What aspects of physical health are affected by sleep
It is a well-known fact that irregular sleep patterns and low quality sleep increase the likelihood of developing many acute and chronic diseases. The probability of contracting infectious diseases is much higher in individuals with sleep disorders, who sleep less than 6-7 hours at night or do not have a regular sleep pattern.
The effect of sleep on increasing the possibility of getting coronavirus infection and having the disease severely can be understood from here. Besides, lack of sleep is a significant risk factor in developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The increased inflammation and cytokine production decrease close to getting enough sleep in the morning hours and reach normal levels to strengthen the immune system. However, in individuals who sleep poorly due to the failure of this order, the amount of inflammation keeps increasing. As chronic inflammation is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular problems, and depression, insufficient sleep should be considered a triggering factor in developing many diseases.
The relation between sleep and immunity
The immune system plays a crucial role in maintaining health, preventing many acute and chronic diseases, and healing wounds. The immune system and sleep have a bidirectional relationship. Infections, illnesses, and related symptoms that develop in the body can disrupt sleep patterns. Insufficient or irregular sleep also leads to the weakening of the immune system, making the body susceptible to diseases.
A healthy sleep pattern creates support for the immune system to maintain its healthy functioning. Adequate and high-quality sleep is of great importance in creating a faster and more effective response to disease factors and reducing the severity of unwanted immune responses such as allergic reactions. At the same time, adequate sleep is necessary for the production of immune proteins, which are responsible for the defense system, to continue healthily. In the presence of insomnia, irregular sleep, sleep apnea, or circadian rhythm disorders, the immune system cannot function properly and weakens. This makes the body much more susceptible to many diseases, including COVID-19. At the same time, due to the inability to create the desired immune response, infections are much more severe and hard to treat.
The most crucial reason why sleep is so adequate for immune system regulation is that it provides bodily rest. Physical rest is essential in terms of both the healthy continuity of innate immunity and the maintenance of acquired immunity as it should be. It has been shown that cytokine production increases during the night’s sleep, and strengthens the immune system. It is also thought that sleep improves the memory of the adaptive immune system, just as it improves learning speed and memory in the brain.
How sleep impacts weight management
Many factors such as stress, nutritional problems, and not having enough physical activity can also affect sleep quality. For example, insomnia can cause issues in balancing the hormones leptin and ghrelin, which control body fat stores and appetite mechanisms. With insomnia, ghrelin hormone levels, which increase appetite and food intake, increase. In contrast, leptin hormones, which have the opposite effect and lower the appetite, are suppressed. Consequently, the imbalance in these ‘hunger hormones’ increases the risk of obesity.
Obesity, on the other hand, increases the risk of sleep apnea, which occurs during sleep and causes respiratory arrest of 10 seconds or longer. While sleep apnea reduces sleep quality, it can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke as well. The risk of diabetes, infectious diseases, high blood pressure, asthma, obesity, cardiovascular diseases can also increase along with insomnia. In addition to all these, insomnia can reduce the quality of life and cause memory and focus problems, making you feel tired and unproductive.
Nutrition and sleep quality are highly correlated. Decreased sleep duration and quality are associated with metabolic disorders, decreased rapid eye movement phase (REM), and slow-wave sleep (SWS) phase. Some studies show that the REM phase has an effect on obesity and metabolism. Studies have shown an increase in food consumption and consumption of snacks after poor quality and insufficient sleep and increased overall carbohydrate and fat intake.
People who sleep less are found to choose more high-calorie foods, snack frequently, eat fewer vegetables, and have irregular meal times. On the other hand, adequate sleep time positively affects many healthy behaviors, such as a balanced diet. It has been observed that people who get enough sleep consume more vegetables and fruits while also not frequently snacking. So go on, start sleeping better now and take advantage of this one size fits all medicine!
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