Sleep - The latest evidence
6 benefits of sleep
At some point in many people's lives, getting enough sleep is a luxury. This can be due to family demands, shift work, relationship issues, or chronic exposure to stress, and often leads to complaints about feeling tired all the time.
Although it may be tempting to ignore the negative effects, research indicates that not getting enough sleep is something to be taken seriously.
It is often recommended that we should spend one-third of our time sleeping, that is depending on our individual needs. Sleep is essential for good health and well-being. During sleep, our body actively heals and repairs tissues and detoxifies unwanted toxins and byproducts of metabolism, and also no longer needed hormones. Lack of sleep can lead to a range of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression.
However, with at least 30% of the population experiencing sleep disturbance, a significant number of people are clearly not getting enough sleep. There are many reasons why people may not be getting enough sleep. These include stress, anxiety, medical conditions, and poor sleep habits. It is important to address these issues in order to improve sleep quality and overall health.
Research shows that adults who sleep for less than seven hours a day have a greater chance of developing chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, depression and mental distress.
Experts on sleep recommend a consistent sleep schedule (even on days off or weekends) and creating a relaxing bedtime routine to help promote quality sleep. Additionally, avoiding caffeine and alcohol before bedtime, as well as limiting screen time in the evening, can also improve sleep quality.
The Benefits of Sleep: Why a Good Night's Rest is Essential for Your Health
Getting enough quality sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Not only does it help you feel more alert and productive during the day, but it can also have long-term benefits for your overall well-being. Here are some reasons why:
Improved Cognitive Function and Mental Well-being: Poor sleep can lead to irritability and mood swings, partly due to the impact of stress hormones on blood sugar and hunger. This is why chronic lack of sleep is associated with many mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Studies have shown that individuals with insomnia experience more symptoms of anxiety and depression than those without insomnia. Inadequate and/or low-quality sleep increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and other psychological issues. In fact, 90% of people diagnosed with depression report low sleep quality.
Reduced risk of short-term issues: Poor quality sleep, or lack thereof, can have a significantly negative impact on our overall health. When feeling fatigued, it may be difficult to operate at full capacity, and your brain may find it difficult to do well all it is tasked with. Short-term issues may thus include brain fog, lowered attention span, difficulties with concentration and focus, and poor memory recall. It may also impact learning and retention of information. In some studies, a deficit of as little as 90 minutes in nocturnal sleep (for just one night) can lead to a reduction of objective daytime alertness by one-third.
Reduced Risk of Chronic Disease: In addition to short-term effects, researchers are also studying the longer-term effects of sleep deprivation. Poor quality sleep or lack of sleep has been linked to significant health problems, including obesity, diabetes, weakened immune systems, and even certain cancers.
Improved Gut Health: Taking a break from eating can be beneficial for your gut, and sleep allows the body to fully extract nutrients from the food we eat (in a totally relaxed state). Studies show that intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating may reduce inflammation and improve the health of your gut microbiome. thus, some people may benefit from extending their overnight fast, especially if they are on a particular (unsupervised) diet such as the paleo diet or a type of ketogenic diet. Additionally, a greater diversity of beneficial gut bacteria is associated with better sleep, while other types of bacteria are linked to poor sleep quality. Also, it may also have a greater impact on the histamine system. Histamine dysfunction, which is often naively referred to as histamine intolerance, can lead to sleep problems since histamine is known to act as a neuroexcitatory neurotransmitter. In fact, many people struggle with falling asleep due to histamine problems.
Increased Physical Performance: Sleep is essential for recovery and muscle repair. Not only does sleep help to repair muscles, but it also helps to recharge the mind and body. Sleep is especially important for athletes and active individuals who need to perform at their best. By getting enough sleep, they may see significant improvements in their physical performance. Additionally, sleep has been shown to help reduce the risk of injury and illness, both of which can be detrimental to an athlete's ability to train and perform. So, it's safe to say that getting enough sleep is a key component to achieving optimal physical performance.
Improved Immune System: While we sleep, our body produces cytokines, antibodies, and immune cells. These molecules work together to protect us from pathogens, fight infections, and reduce inflammation. Research has shown that lack of sleep can inhibit our immune response, making us more susceptible to illnesses and infections, which is especially important to consider when we are stressed or already sick.
As you can see, there are many reasons why good quality sleep is important for your health and well-being. If you're struggling to get to sleep, get enough sleep or feel refreshed upon rising, try establishing a regular sleep schedule (even on days off or weekends), creating a relaxing bedtime routine, and avoiding caffeine and electronics before bed.
Here are some suggestions for you to be able to get a better night's sleep:
Caffeine intake: If you feel desperate for that cup of coffee in the morning, so you can feel as closely as possible to your best self, then cutting out on caffeine may be the answer. Excessive intake of caffeine can disturb sleep by affecting the adenosine system and reducing the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. The half-life of coffee can be between 6 and 8 hours. This means that after this time, half of the caffeine consumed is still circulating in the bloodstream. Further to this, new research shows that the quarter-life of caffeine is 12 hours. This means that if you drink a coffee at noon, 25% of the caffeine is still affecting your brain and, therefore, keeping you awake at midnight. If you drink more coffee in the afternoon and you’re a slow metaboliser, higher concentrations of caffeine continue to keep you alert at times when you should unwind and prepare to sleep. This plays heavily on the stress response too and may keep you chronically in a state of fight-or-flight and affect your stages of sleep (you may find it difficult to reach the deep stage of sleep). Finally, it may take up to 36 hours for caffeine to completely leave your nervous system. If you are addicted to caffeine, there may never be such a time when caffeine is not affecting your nervous system.
Read before you sleep: A recent study confirmed that reading before bed improves the quality of sleep. Over 40% of people in the intervention group within the study felt their sleep improved when reading a book for 15–30 min immediately before trying to go to sleep for seven nights in a row.
Bedroom Hygiene: Set an electronic curfew at least one hour before bedtime. This means, reducing your exposure to blue light-emanating screens, such as mobile phones, tablets or laptops. We may even recommend that you remove phones from the bedroom, so you're not tempted to reach for the phone if you're struggling to fall asleep and disturb your sleep further by triggering the brain that it is light outside (unnatural light exposure signals the brain that it is daytime)
Establish a regular bedtime routine. Sleeping in on weekends, for example, may make you feel lethargic (due to oversleeping) and less productive on those days. It may also impact your sleep as you get ready for the new week ahead. If you require 15 or more hours to feel sleepy, then by oversleeping the time by which you would feel it is time for bed will be severely delayed. For example, if you wake up at 6:30 every morning and feel sleepy and fall asleep by 22:00, then you need 15 hours and 30 minutes from being awake to sleepy. Think of it as turning an hourglass around. You will only fall asleep once the last grain of sand has fallen. This may explain why you struggle to fall asleep on Sunday night if you have overslept all weekend.
Practice mindfulness and/or gratefulness and keep a journal to keep your emotions in check and reduce the barrages that may prevent you from sleeping asleep or damage the quality of your sleep.
References
1. The ‘Philips Index for Health and Well-being: A global perspective’ – www.philips-thecenter.org/the-Philips-global-index.
2. Asif, N. Iqbal, R. Nazir CF. (2017). Human immune system during sleep. American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Immunology. 6(6), pp. 92-96.
3. Miller, B. (Reviewed: March 8, 2023). Should You Try Intermittent Fasting if You Have Crohn’s? Available at: https://www.everydayhealth.com/crohns-disease/should-you-try-intermittent-fasting-if-you-have-crohns/
4. Badri, F. (2012). Gut health affects sleep, but you can improve yours. Available at: https://joinzoe.com/learn/gut-health-affects-sleep
5. Sanchez, O. (2021). Long-term antibiotic treatment affects sleep. Available at: https://www.nutrunity.com/updates/long-term-antibiotic-treatment-affects-sleep
5. Ohayon, MM. Partinen, M. (2002). Insomnia and global sleep dissatisfaction in Finland. Journal of Sleep Research. 11(4), pp. 339-46.
6. Taheri, S. et al. (2004). Short sleep duration is associated with elevated ghrelin, reduced leptin and increased body mass index. PLoS Med . 1(3): e62
7. Gottlieb, DJ. et al. (2005). Association of sleep time with diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance. Archives of Internal Medicine. 165(8), pp. 863-867
8. Bonnet, MH. Arand, DL. (2010). Hyperarousal and insomnia: state of the science. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 14(1), pp. 9–15.
9 .Gumustekin, K. et al. (2004). Effects of sleep deprivation, nicotine and selenium on wound healing in rats. Neurosci ence. 114, pp. 1433-1442
10. Beusterien, KM. et al. (1999). Health related quality of life effects of modafinil for treatment of narcolepsy. Sleep. 22(6), pp. 757-765
11. Krystal, AD. (2012). Psychiatric disorders and sleep. Neurologic Clinics. 30(4), pp. 1389-413. doi:10.1016/j.ncl.2012.08.018
12. Shilo, L. et al. (2002). The effects of coffee consumption on sleep and melatonin secretion. Sleep Medicine. 3(3), pp. 271–273.
13. Ganesh, J. (2019). Sleep expert Matthew Walker on the secret to a good night’s rest. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/e6ccdcac-133d-11e9-a581-4ff78404524e
14. Finucane, E. et al. (2021). Does reading a book in bed make a difference to sleep in comparison to not reading a book in bed? The People's Trial-an online, pragmatic, randomised trial. Trials. 22(1), 873. doi:10.1186/s13063-021-05831-3
15. Sanchez, O. (2020). Energise - 30 Days to Vitality. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energise-Vitality-Inflammation-Clarity-resilience/dp/B0B5Y5ZQ4J/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2M45PDPUT1HPE&keywords=energise&qid=1667928475&s=books&sprefix=energis%2Cstripbooks%2C204&sr=1-5