According to specialists, bad sleep can have an impact not only on your daily energy, but it can affect your immune system and trigger different diseases.
In an increasingly fast-paced and demanding world, lack of sleep has become a widespread problem that affects millions of people around the world. Beyond simply feeling tired during the day, sleep deprivation has significant consequences for our physical, mental, and emotional health.
The academic from the UNAB School of Nursing and master in Mental Health, Juan Videla, explains that, functionally, sleep is essential, since “it allows us to conserve our energy, optimize our concentration, consolidate memory, improves our intellectual performance by The next day, it eliminates free radicals accumulated during the day, promotes metabolic and endocrine regulation and optimizes immune activation.”
Therefore, what happens to our body when we stop having a restful sleep?
According to the teacher, a sleep disorder prevents us from getting restful sleep, in quantity or quality, and negatively affects our health, causing daily drowsiness with the risk of accidents, lack of concentration, headaches, fatigue, etc.
“Cognitive function is affected by lack of sleep, which translates into lower psychomotor and cognitive speed, decreased attention, altered alertness, lower working memory, on the other hand, important emotional changes that induce low mood, depression and greater fatigue” he explains.
Long-term effects
A chronic lack of sleep causes our brain to be left with a “sleep debt” – explains Videla – which accumulates over time and has long-term effects, potentially triggering diseases such as: diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, obesity and depressive symptoms.
In the same way, our immune system is also directly affected when we start to have problems with sleep. This is because when we sleep substances called cytokines are released to help promote sleep. For example, the teacher explains, “in infectious, inflammatory or stress conditions, cytokines must increase to avoid harmful effects, therefore, lack of sleep can reduce the production of cytokines that protect us.”
Furthermore, our antibodies and the cells that help us fight infections see their production decreased in those periods when we do not get enough sleep.
Strategies to improve sleep quality
Current studies are aimed at carrying out a series of practices that help take care of the quantity and quality of sleep, what is known today as sleep hygiene. These practices seek to modify the behaviors that prevent adequate sleep.
Next, the UNAB academic provides some recommendations to improve sleep hygiene:
It is suggested, according to the WHO, to sleep eight hours a day.
Generate a favorable environment when going to bed; it is advisable to use dim lighting to promote a relaxing and suitable environment for sleeping.
It is important to avoid the consumption of foods, stimulating drinks and tobacco at least two hours before going to bed.
Avoid intense exercise 2 to 3 hours before bed, as it can make it difficult to fall asleep.
Limit exposure to stimuli such as the use of electronic devices before going to sleep.
Plan the next day and avoid activities that generate distress or anxiety.
“By following these recommendations to improve your ability to sleep well, you will reduce your stress and take care of your brain, which will provide you with emotional and mental well-being. As a result, you will be able to prevent diseases and you will be able to sleep well, thus improving your quality of life,” concludes the teaching nurse.
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