TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Quality and quantity sleep What we get has an impact on all aspects of life. From daily functioning, mood, to our heart health, sleep plays an important role in our health. One of the lesser-known effects of sleep is that it affects the immune system, which is responsible for fighting off infection, disease, and illness.
Getting good, quality sleep can help keep immune system You are strong and healthy. Poor sleep, on the other hand, can damage your immune system, making you more susceptible to getting sick. Research estimates that sleeping five hours or less per night increases the risk of death from all causes by 15 percent. In fact, one in three adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the CDC, putting them at increased risk for developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
As psychiatrist Sheldon Zablow says during waking hours, the brain and body use special chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters to relay information from the nervous system to the immune system (and the rest of the body).
Sleep helps replenish “these stores of these chemicals,” says Dr. Zablow explained. “Removes cellular waste products for healthy functioning the next day.” When a person experiences poor quality sleep or doesn’t get enough sleep, fewer neurotransmitter molecules are made. This means that many body functions, including your immune system, will not work optimally.
“One of the manifestations is that the immune system and the hormone-producing endocrine system will not be able to ‘talk’ to each other, resulting in poor health,” says Dr. Zablow. “We call this ‘feeling tired’ and know that when healthy sleep is disturbed over time over time, we are more at risk of infection virus and autoimmune disorders.” Lack of sleep ultimately weakens our immune defenses.
When we sleep, our bodies produce more white blood cells and cytokines, which act as messengers from the immune system and help fight infection and disease. “Sleep deprivation, therefore, leads to a decrease in these two infection-fighting agents, putting health at risk,” says Dr. said Zablow. That’s why many doctors recommend getting a good quality sleep before a vaccination, for example, which allows the body to produce more antibodies.
If you catch the common cold or flu, studies have found that poor quality sleep and/or shorter sleep duration in the weeks leading up to exposure can make you more likely to catch it. “Sleep deprivation makes a person more susceptible to the common cold,” says Victoria Glass, MD, physician and medical researcher at the Farr Institute.
On the other hand, getting a good night’s sleep when you’re really sick can help maintain a healthy connection between your immune system and your sleep cycle. “When we become infected with a pathogen, such as COVID-19 or the flu, our immune system launches a full-scale attack and massively increases its activity,” said Chelsie Rohrscheib, a neurologist and sleep specialist.
If you’ve ever felt sleepy when you’re sick, Rohrscheib explains that changes in immune activity almost always affect our sleep, [yang] usually lead to longer sleep times and give us the urge to sleep during the day. Because deep or late sleep strengthens our immune system and creates antibodies and T-cells, it is more important than ever when we are sick or sick.
“T cells, a type of white blood cell that target invading pathogens and other diseases such as cancer, are essential for fighting disease,” Rohrscheib said. Studies show that T cell activity actually increases during sleep, meaning that most of the disease fighting occurs at night.
According to Olufunke Afolabi-Brown, MBBS, attending physician in the Division of Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, sleep can help your body “repair” itself more quickly. “During slow-wave sleep, growth hormone is released. The job of growth hormone includes helping tissue repair, stimulating cell division, and replacing old and damaged cells,” he said.
You may also have heard that fever is the body’s way of fighting disease. Although it may seem counterintuitive to think that a fever is more than just a symptom of illness. “Our bodies fight infection with fever,” says Dr. Glass “When we sleep, we get a better fever response, which is why fevers tend to increase at night.”
On the other hand, not sleeping can cause your body to take longer to respond. Health guidelines recommend that most healthy adults get seven to nine hours of sleep each night, but Dr. Glass says, at the very least, try to get four to six hours of sleep, regardless of your schedule.
Also read: Diet Patterns to Improve Sleep Quality According to Studies
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