Not Sleeping Enough May Harm Your Immune System And Trigger Inflammation – New Study

Chronic sleep deprivation in a small group of healthy adults increased production of immune cells linked to inflammation while also altering the immune cells’ DNA, a new study found.

“Not only were the number of immune cells elevated, but they may be wired and programmed in a different way at the end of the six weeks of sleep restriction,” said study coauthor Cameron McAlpine, an assistant professor of cardiology and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

“Together, these two factors could potentially predispose someone for diseases like cardiovascular disease.”

A certain amount of immune system inflammation is necessary for the body to fight infections and heal wounds, but an overactive immune system can be harmful and raise the risk of autoimmune disorders and chronic disease, experts say.

The study was published September 21 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

“This work aligns with views in the field that sleep restriction can increase risk for type 2 diabetes and hypertension,” said Steven Malin, an associate professor in the department of kinesiology and health at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“Practically then, these findings support ideas to develop good sleep habits such that most of the time you are getting adequate sleep,” added Malin, who was not involved in the study.

Good sleep heals

To be healthy, the body needs to move through four stages of sleep several times each night. During the first and second stages, the body starts to decrease its rhythms. Doing so prepares us for the third stage – a deep, slow-wave sleep where the body is literally restoring itself on a cellular level – fixing damage from the day’s wear and tear and consolidating memories into long-term storage.

Rapid eye movement sleep, called REM, is the final stage in which we dream. Studies have shown that missing REM sleep may lead to memory deficit and poor cognitive outcomes as well as heart and other chronic diseases and an early death.

On the flip side, years of research has found sleep, especially the deepest, most healing kind, boosts immune functioning.

Since each sleep cycle is roughly 90 minutes long, most adults need seven to eight hours of relatively uninterrupted slumber to achieve restorative sleep, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.