Oftentimes life interferes with my desire to get more sleep—the unfortunate reality of nighttime parenting, nagging work deadlines, never-ending household responsibilities, and the occasional insomnia. When we experience sleepiness we usually know we are overtired, yet we dismiss the connections that sleepiness has to many health problems. We typically fuel up with coffee, tea, or energy drinks and push through. And, unfortunately, the more sleep deprived we are, the less we recognize it. Many people even pride themselves on how little sleep they need to function.
But poor sleep is nothing to be proud of. Poor sleep quality and short sleep duration are associated with higher levels of inflammation and illness. Sleep should truly be one of the cornerstones of our health strategy. As our sleep deficit grows, consequences grow more alarming. It starts with foggy thinking, daytime sleepiness, impaired attention, increased cortisol levels, weakened immune system, accelerated aging, mood instability, impaired memory, and compromised safety like poor driving or making bad decisions.
All of which have dramatic implications for our quality of life and overall health. In the long term, the low-level inflammation caused by sleep loss actually increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer , and heart disease. Unfortunately, getting extra sleep does not necessarily restore all systems. Sleep scientists continue to discover the complexity of sleep deprivation recovery and how sleep debt is harder to repay than initially thought. A study from the University of Chicago concludes that it might be reasonable to recover from short-term sleep loss.
They found subjects who slept only four hours nightly for six consecutive days short-term sleep loss developed higher blood pressure, increased cortisol levels, and produced only half the usual number of antibodies to a flu vaccine indicating a weakened immune systems. Sleeping in on the weekend could do wonders for your energy level. Our flexible three-day guide will reset your system through sleep, food, and….
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Recovery is not so simple. A growing list of studies has connected chronic partial sleep deprivation not just to cognitive deficits but also to changes in hormone secretion, metabolism, weight gain, delayed immune response and other deficits. We are finding more and more connections. My lab, working with mice, recently demonstrated a link between disrupted sleep and cancer progression.
Another research team found connections between sleep loss and trouble eliminating toxins. Another team, working with fruit flies, showed that sleep loss could hamper courtship and sexual behavior.
For many species, reproductive behaviors fit into a narrow temporal window. If you fail to engage in the appropriate behavior at the right time, you may lose your opportunity. My team has also recently shown that under certain conditions, disturbed sleep can alter gene expression.
The offspring of female mice who have fragmented sleep late in pregnancy tend to gain weight months later, during the mouse equivalent of middle age. Evolution has provided us with many mechanisms to counter the effects of sleep loss. I would opt for caution. Rather than take on the risk, or assume that you can counteract all the sleep losses you incur, a little bit of prevention may be wise.
Treat your sleep like a bank account. Avoid overdrafts and your credit history will be perfect. If you accumulate debt, there will be compounded interest and an uphill battle to recover.
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