Did you know Poor Sleep Quality Fuels Inflammation, Study Reveals New Health Risks

 

According to a new study published in The Journal of Immunology, there is a link between getting poor sleep and chronic inflammation in the body because of changes in immune cells called monocytes. These cells are the reason for inflammation in the body and when you don't get proper sleep and toss and turn during the night, monocytes take notice. This inflammation is also related to chronic diseases and obesity and can happen in anybody, irrespective of if they are healthy or not. For the study, the researchers looked at different factors like body weight, sleep, and inflammation that are determinants of overall health.

There have always been talks about how poor sleep causes obesity but this study talks about how sleep disruption affects our immune mechanisms and can contribute to chronic inflammatory conditions. There are different reasons for the disruption of sleep like long screen times, too much use of technology, and changing societal norms and this disruption can negatively affect overall well-being and immune health. For the study, the researchers recruited 273 healthy Kuwaiti adults and they were given ActGraph GT3Z+ devices that provided data about the duration, efficiency, and disruptions in sleep of the participants.

The results found that participants who were obese had lower sleep quality than lean participants and they also had high inflammatory levels. They also had lower levels of classical monocytes but high levels of non-classical monocytes. The researchers also found that non-classical monocytes increase in people when they do not get good sleep irrespective of their body weight. This shows that your weight doesn't affect inflammation in your body as low sleep quality increases NCM no matter what.

The researchers also conducted a controlled study with five healthy and lean participants by not letting them sleep for 24 hours. The results showed that they had increased levels of non-classical monocytes and they decreased when the participants recovered from their sleep deprivation. This shows that quality of sleep is also important, not just quantity. If we are sleep deprived, it can create a cycle of our immune system getting affected which could lead to inflammation and then obesity. Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep daily but disruptions and poor sleep efficiency can also impact our health. So, we should focus on getting a night of proper and high-quality sleep, instead of just focusing on sleeping.

While getting enough uninterrupted sleep is crucial, short power naps may help counter some effects of sleep deprivation. A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that two 30-minute naps after severe sleep loss restored immune and stress response markers to normal. Another review in Physiological Reviews suggests that naps can help regulate immune function after sleep disruption, though long or frequent naps may increase inflammation. While naps aren’t a substitute for proper sleep, they could offer short-term benefits in managing immune health.