Can A Poor Sleep Schedule Affect My Immunity?
Yes, Of course! Sleep and immunity are interlinked. Sleep helps your overall health. Inadequate sleep may harm your immunity making you vulnerable to cold or flu. Let us find out how immunity and sleep perform to keep us sniffle-free in this season. Our immune system is solely responsible to fight against infection and protect us from the common cold, flu, and other ailments. This blog will give an insight into sleep and its effect on boosting your immunity:
The Connection between Cytokines and Sleep
The cytokines are a type of protein that prepares our immune system to fight against infection and inflammation. Cytokine synthesis and release happens when we get good sleep. Hence it is important to have sufficient sleep at night. When there is a sleep deficit, it can’t function normally and that will result in more sick days. Chronic sleep deprivation reduces your body’s ability to respond against the foreign invaders by suppressing your immunity strength. In such circumstances, even the flu vaccine becomes less effective.
Sleep deficit not only makes you fall sick but also affects the effective recovery time. Apart from this when we lack sufficient sleep, the production of antibodies and cells that fight against infection is reduced. A long term sleep deficit can put you at risk of diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity. While we sleep, usually our body temperature drops to prepare our body to stay asleep. Whereas when we have a fever (a so-called natural process of our immune system to fight against pathogens) it is during sleep our temperature increases to a noticeable level. So, if we don’t get good rest at night, our body’s fever response fails to fight the foreign invaders.
How much Sleep is required to Strengthen your Immune System?
Sleep is like any other functions that are performed in the body. To stay healthy and fit, the sleep schedule has to be taken care of naturally. A good night’s sleep shall leave you refreshed. An adult requires at least seven to eight hours of good quality sleep each night. A teenager needs to sleep for nine to ten hours every night, whereas children need more than ten hours of slumber to stay healthy and strong. Giving your body complete rest will help in speedy recovery of many ailments, hence it is important to sleep sufficiently. Taking naps for less than 30 minutes also helps to reduce stress and related impacts that sleep deprivation has on our immune system. On a working day try to grab at least 20 minutes nap during your lunch break to become more energetic and efficient.
How to Improve Sleep to Boost Immunity?
Work stress, environmental factors, and lack of good quality bedding can be some of the reasons for concern. Among these having a comfortable mattress and pillows can help you improve the quality of sleep to a great extent, opines experts from Wakefit. Currently, there is a wide range of good quality mattresses available in the market. The web world has made our life so simple and easy that, just by clicking on a mouse, you can do a comparative analysis in terms of quality, price, and materials used in manufacturing the mattress. Studies have proved that memory foam mattress is the most popular pick for the majority and won the ranking in positive reviews based on the customer’s experiences. The other ways of improving sleep quality to boosting immunity are as follows:
- Follow a consistent sleep schedule: Early to bed and early to rise should be your formula for healthy lifestyle adoption. At least stick to the same time to go to bed every night and wake up at the same time every morning irrespective of weekdays and weekends. You may find it difficult initially, but it becomes a habit over time. This will help to tune your circadian rhythm. Also, this harmony in your sleep schedule will have a positive impact on your defence mechanism.
- Early and light dinner: Having a very fatty and late dinner will hamper your sleep schedule as your body will be busy digesting the food. So make sure to have a light dinner 2 hours before sleep. Include lots of leafy vegetables and fruits to boost immunity and stay healthy.
- Restrict alcohol and caffeinated drinks post-mid-afternoon: The reason behind this is alcohol and caffeinated drinks are stimulants. These will stimulate your brain to stay awake at least for 6-8 hours, thus making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.
- Bring an appealing ambience to your bedroom: Your bedroom should only be used to sleep. Any activities other than sleep, when performed in the bedroom, will distract your brain from associating it with sleep. Also, make your room dark and stay away from all lights and light-emitting electronic gadgets. Use blind curtains to block external lights entering into the room. Keep your room cool with a temperature anywhere between 120C to 240C to enhance sleep.
Besides all, now there is a valid reason to sleep, so why to lose the chance? Get a good mattress online and sleep well to boost your immunity. Let your body rest well and fight against all foreign invaders successfully. Stay healthy and fit during this season. Don’t panic, just be alert.
