A lot of benefits come from a restful night’s sleep. New studies have found a correlation between sleep quality and staying healthy.
A study with the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention found about 7 to 19 percent of adults are not getting enough sleep. This equates to 50 to 70 million Americans having chronic sleep disorders. A large issue stemming from a lack of sleep is sleep deprivation.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute defines sleep deprivation as a condition that occurs if you don’t get enough sleep; however, it is more broad of a category having to do with one or more of the following:
- You don’t get enough sleep (sleep deprivation);
- You sleep at the wrong time of day when your body is out of sync with your internal clock;
- You don’t sleep well for what your body needs; and/or
- You have a sleep disorder that prevents you from getting enough sleep or causes poor quality sleep like sleep apnea.
“Sleep consists of cycling repeatedly through two phases: non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, during which the body’s temperature drops and heart rate, breathing, and brain waves show complex combinations of slow and fast patterns; and REM sleep, when the body is paralyzed as the brain waves, breathing, and heart rate quicken and when dreaming occurs. Adequate quantity, quality, and timing of both types of sleep have complementary roles for brain and body health,” said Robert Thomas, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who co-directs the Sleep Disorders Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Like breathing, sleeping is a basic need for the body foundational for the well-being of your entire physiological makeup. With little sleep, health problems can occur that can affect productivity, concentration, or physical ailments.
Insomnia and Illness
Smart bed data like daily and restful sleep durations, sleep latency, heart rate, breathing rate, and the quality of sleep can help in your quest for restful sleep. One study shared in 2023 found a strong link between insomnia and flu-like symptoms or similar illnesses.
“During sleep, the immune system releases proteins called cytokines, and some of these cytokines need to increase when a person gets sick. A lack of sleep can affect the production of these cytokines, and this can have a significant effect on the immune system.”
When your body is lacking sleep, exhaustion sets in around your normal routine either with school, work, or family time. Combining this with a lack of physical activity can create more risks of a weakened immune system. This can increase your likelihood to catch a cold or other viruses.
“Several lines of evidence make me think that it’s more likely that insomnia makes one more vulnerable to influenza through pathways that involve decreased immune function,” said Dr. Gary Garcia-Molina with Sleep Number Labs in San Jose, California.
Creating and keeping a healthy routine for your bedtime, physical activity, and healthy eating, will lead to a higher quality of sleep. When your routine is shuffled, you are at risk to slip into sleep deprivation or insomnia when longer term.
Tracking Your Sleep Quality
If you find yourself dozing off while reading, watching tv, talking to someone, sitting in the classroom, or in traffic, your sleep quality could suffer. The best course of action is to start tracking your state of mind when you find yourself falling asleep or dozing off.
What to track for your doctor could be helpful as well:
- Wake up and bedtime
- The last time and meal you last ate
- The season and room temperature
- How tired you were at work
- The last drink you took (water, caffeine)
- Any medications you took
- Time of day and amount of exercise during the day
If you have never been diagnosed or seen a doctor over your sleep quality, consider contacting The Alaska Sleep Clinic. This could be the reason for frequent illnesses so this free 10-minute phone call with a sleep educator can help determine if a sleep study is necessary or if a consultation with our sleep specialist needs to be scheduled.
