Many of us experience difficulties with the current way of life influenced by the pandemic. A lot of focus is put on the external factors to help us deal with the virus – such as isolation, staying home and wearing masks. Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to live a life full of vitality even in these kind of times. The power is in your hands and the choices you make determine your level of vitality. I believe (and science says so too) that your sleep routine is one of the greatest factors which can weaken or strengthen your immune system and can determine how you feel & function during the day.
DESCREASED INFLAMMATION THANKS TO CYTOKINES
We live in a stressed hectic modern world in which sleep is often sacrificed and seen as a luxury. However, recent science points out that good quality sleep is crucial for our health and daily recovery. Our sleep hygiene is essential for strengthening our immune system. According to research, when we sleep the production of cytokines goes up – these help fight inflammation or help one heal when injured. Inflammation within the body can be seen as a precursor for a disease. Cytokines increase when you sleep and enable your body to fight inflammation - that is why good quality sleep can strengthen your immune system, while a lack of quality sleep can make you more prone to diseases as a heart diseases due to one’s inadequate ability to fight inflammation.
NEURONAL DNA REPAIR
The body has the ability to repairs the DNA when we sleep. It is doing the housekeeping so that we wake up strong and energized – recovered from daily stressors. When we achieve a state of deep sleep our body is able to repair on a cellular level. How can this be? Sleep increases chromosome dynamics in neuronal nuclei to repair DNA double-strand breaks which accumulate in a genome while we are awake. Such a profound repair process of toxic lesions happens at the single cell level.[1] You need your sleep for this repair process to take place. Lack of sleep will result in a decreased ability for a cellular repair.
GLYMPHATIC SYSTEM
Any toxicity that accumulates is being cleared up by the glymphatic system. This system cleans the central nervous system, in which neurotoxic waste such as β-amyloid, builds up during the day. It is important to mention that the glymphatic system is disengaged in our waking state. That is why the neurotoxic clean up can only happen when we sleep. Lack of sleep literally lowers your body’s ability to clean up accumulated waste. No wonder we can get sick when we don’t sleep well for multiple nights in a row! Good sleep hygiene is crucial to remove toxic built up in our body.
AMYGDALA & EMOTIONAL REGULATION
Our brain uses 20% of the total energy and it does need downtime to clean itself and function optimally. Amygdala is a part of the brain responsible for general emotional wellbeing and emotional regulation. This part of the brain is linked with fear response and therefore lack of quality sleep results in you feeling more stressed. If you do not get a good night’s sleep you are more likely to feel stressed out for no apparent reason. The issue is not “just in your head” but it might actually be a result of an inadequate ability to handle emotions due to the lack of down time. The chances that you are able to manage daily stressors better are higher if you get a good night’s restorative sleep.
Now consider your daily sleeping routines. Are they healthy? Do you feel re-energized upon waking? What could you improve?
My 3 tips to help you get a restorative sleep:
- Start winding down 1 hour before bedtime (no mobile, no tv or tablet)
- Go to be around 21.00 but latest at 22.00 (to enter deep stages of sleep)
- Do not consume anything 3-4 hours before bed (time to focus on repair instead of digestion)
Try and see if your sleep improves over time. And remember, changing habits takes time, so take baby steps ;)
[1] Zada et al. Deep increases chromosome dynamics to enable reduction of accumulating DNA damage in single neurons. Nat. Commun., 10 (2019), p. 895.
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