Did you ever wonder why as a kid your parents emphasized your sleep so much? Why was bedtime always so early and why was this sleep so important? Do we really need that much sleep?
Well, as it turns out, sleep is that important. Our sleep cycles are a part of the human circadian clock, or better known as our bodies 24-hour clock. Have you ever wondered how our body knows when it is time to go to bed, wake up, and even eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner? This is all due to circadian rhythms regulated in our bodies’. In the article Circadian disruption and human health written by Anna B. Fishbein, Kristen L. Knutson, and Phyllis C. Zee produced in 2021, “Circadian (circa, “about,” and diem, “day”) rhythms are endogenous oscillations with an approximately 24-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms in physiology and behavior are organized by a central “master” clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) located in the anterior hypothalamus…” The SCN is the structure in our brain that helps us manage the timing of our day-to-day lives.
Well, what happens when our bodies’ experience disruptions from our typical wake-sleep cycle? Unfortunately, this does have consequences. “...[C]hanges in circadian function are often accompanied by sleep-wake disturbances, which also contribute to poor health outcomes,” (Fishbein et al., 2021). These “poor health outcomes'' range from a weakened immunity to an increased risk of neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, and even metabolic disorders such as diabetes. For example, it has been demonstrated that autism spectrum disorders are not only pretty common but have been associated with misaligned cortisol rhythms and a lack of melatonin rhythm (which influences bodily responses to sleep), (Fishbein et al., 2021).
In regard to respiratory infections, “...decades of scientific evidence show that sleep is a solid way to bolster the immune system against colds, influenza, and respiratory infections,” (Sohn, 2020). Interestingly enough, sleep deprived dogs and rats die in just a few weeks. For humans, a lack of sleep enhances risk for a multitude of things. “In a number of studies, people with sleep disorders, people who catch less than five or six hours of shut-eye per night, and people with low levels of sleep efficiency (the percentage of time spent snoozing during the night) report higher rates of respiratory illnesses, head colds, and related ills,” (Sohn, 2020). The reason behind higher risk of illness is due to the fact that when humans don’t sleep, their T cells, which are in charge of helping fight infection, remain in the bloodstream. Here they are less likely to interact with virus-infected cells (Sohn, 2020). In addition to that, “In one of the first such studies from 2002, one group of people slept about eight hours for four nights before getting a flu shot, then slept the same amount for the two nights after the shot. Ten days later, researchers reported the participants’ influenza antibody levels were more than twice as high as those in people in another group who had slept only four hours per night over the same period,” (Sohn, 2020). Thus, we can evidently see how and why sleeping is such an important task.
In conclusion, Anna B. Fishbein, Kristen L. Knutson, and Phyllis C. Zee all emphasized the effects a lack of sleep has on a wide variety of levels in the body. In closer relevance to the COVID-19 pandemic that recently occurred, Emily Sohn goes into detail in her article on how a lack of sleep specifically influences the immune system and how that plays a role in our susceptibility to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Sources:
Sohn, Emily. (2020, October 1st). Want to reduce your COVID-19 risk? You need to sleep more. National Geographic. (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/sleep-more-reduce-coronavirus-risk)
Fishbein, A., Knutson, K. L., Zee, P. C. (2021). Circadian disruption and human health. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. (https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI148286)
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