The role of good quality sleep in getting you on top of your game is a well-documented fact. A recent article on quality sleep on mattress manufacturers King Koil Indonesia’s website kingkoil.id, highlighted the positive impact that 7 or 8 hours of quality slumber can have on sharpening your brain, improving your mood as well as your heart’s wellbeing, and more.
Quality sleep’s benefits also extended to more intangible factors in your body, not least your immune system. The British government’s National Health Service or NHS has warned that “regular poor sleep puts you at risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, coronary heart disease, and diabetes,” it said in its website nhs.uk. “And [poor quality sleep] can shorten your life expectancy...it’s now clear that a solid night’s sleep is essential for a long and healthy life.”
webmd.com backed the NHS’ findings. “Not getting enough sleep can make you more likely to catch viruses or germs. And you also may take longer to get better,” the website warned. “That’s because your body can’t make as many infection-fighting cells and proteins called antibodies that help defend against illness.”
Boosting your immune system
The immune system protects the body against illnesses, infections, chronic and deadly diseases in two main categories of protection: innate immunity, which provides a broad type of protection, and adaptive immunity. Also known as acquired immunity, the latter included time developed defenses that are designed to deal with specific illnesses.
webmd.com made clear how indispensable good quality sleep helps maintain your immune system. “Your body only releases certain proteins that help the immune system, called cytokines, only during sleep,” the website noted.
The sleepfoundation.org website backed webmd.com’s findings. “Sleep and the immune system have a bidirectional relationship. Immune response, like that caused by a viral infection, can affect sleep,” said sleepfoundation.com, citing the following factors below.
Links between sleep and your immune system
“Consistent sleep strengthens the immune system, allowing for balanced and effective immune function...Getting sufficient hours of high-quality sleep enables a well-balanced immune defense that features strong innate and adaptive immunity, efficient response to vaccines, and less severe allergic reactions.”
Researchers have found that sleep can bolster the body’s immune memory, in a way that is similar to aiding the brain’s functions in learning and memory.
“The interaction of immune system components during sleep reinforces the immune system’s ability to remember how to recognize and react to dangerous antigens,” said sleepfoundation.org. “During sleep, breathing and muscle activity slows down, freeing up energy for the immune system to perform these critical tasks.”
Aside from restoring your body’s immune system, a good night’s sleep can help deal with inflammation, a potentially hazardous part of the recovery process.
“The inflammation that happens during sleep could harm physical and mental performance if it occurred during waking hours, so the body has evolved so that these processes unfold during nightly sleep,” noted sleepfoundation.org. “Melatonin, a
sleep-promoting hormone that is produced at night, is adept at counteracting the stress that can come from inflammation during sleep.” The website added that the process is self-regulating.
Experts have found that good quality sleep is conducive to adaptive immunity, which in turn improves the effectiveness of vaccines in your body.
“Vaccines work by introducing a weakened or deactivated antigen in your body, triggering an immune response. In this way, immunizations effectively teach the immune system to recognize and attack that antigen,” sleepfoundation.org argued.
“Sleep is an important factor that helps determine the effectiveness of vaccines. Studies of vaccines for hepatitis and swine flu [H1N1] have found that when people don’t sleep the night after receiving the vaccine, the body’s immune response is weaker. In some cases, this reduces the vaccine’s protection and may even require a second dose of the vaccine...People who get insufficient sleep may not give their bodies time develop immunological memory, potentially leaving them unprotected despite having been vaccinated.”
How the immune system affects sleep
The sleepfoundation.org noted that infections can bring about changes to your sleep routine. “The immune response induces more time in stage 3 non rapid eye [NREM], which is also known as deep sleep. Deep sleep involves greater slowing of bodily processes, allowing the immune system to utilize more energy to fight infection.”
Researchers also believed that the sleeping changes are caused by infection as well as the body’s conflict with pathogens, and fevers brought about in its wake. “Deep sleep is increased when we are fighting an infection because it is the period of sleep when our metabolism is lowest, freeing up energy to mount a high fever response,” said sleepfoundation.org.
Having noted sleep’s vital role in maintaining your immune system, researchers are finding ways on how quality, uninterrupted sleep can bolster your immunity to disease. This includes sleep hygiene, a series of steps including a consistent sleep schedule and avoiding the use of cell phones and tablets in bed,” noted sleepfoundation.org.
Conclusion
Quality sleep of 7 to 8 hours is more than just about waking up refreshed and reenergized to take on a new day. While there is little doubt that sufficient shuteye does this, research have proved that healthy sleep can rejuvenate your immune systems and enables your immune system to fend off illnesses, infections, viruses and other diseases.
King Koil’s line of mattresses, pillows and other bed products can help you get the quality sleep you need for your immune system. The use of high quality materials in line with the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) and the International Sleep Products Association, make our products the ultimate in form and function, and ensure you will get the quality sleep that is good for your health.
