August News

Negative Consequences of Insufficient Sleep

Reduced Immune Function

• Reduction in natural killer cells (white blood cells that are the first line of against disease and infection) is found after just one night of four hours of sleep.

• Increase in NF-kB expression of pro-inflammatory response (epigenetic effect).

• Significantly more likely to develop viral illness

• Increased risk of cancer  

Reduced Brain Function: (brain fog, poor memory, difficulty learning new things)

Dementia: (sleep disturbance precedes diagnoses by several years; the glymphatic system is the brain's waste clearance system that operates at night when we sleep and clears amyloid plaques and tau proteins).

Mood disorders: Anxiety and depression, addiction, suicidal thoughts in teenagers, aggression, and poor behavior in children. Antidepressant use often worsens sleep, decreasing REM sleep and increasing periods of wakefulness, Insomnia is an independent risk factor for suicide.

Early Death – night owls have 10% increased mortality

Increased risk of car accidents:

• Increased risk of falling asleep at the wheel

• As cognitively impaired as those legally drunk

• Drivers who slept 4-5 hours had 4.3 times the crash rate of those who slept 7 hours.

• More fatal than drunk driving. Drunk drivers react late; drivers who fall asleep don’t react at all.

Addiction:

• Increased risk of addiction to stimulants (insomnia -> difficulty getting out of bed -> coffee) AND to sedatives, including alcohol.

Hormones:

• Reduced fertility

• Studies show that men with shorter sleep duration have up to 29% lower sperm count and more sperm abnormality.

• Men who sleep less have lower testosterone
  - Testosterone has a circadian rhythm, and production is highest during sleep; lower sleep quality and/or duration leads to lower testosterone.
  -Low testosterone is also linked to more awakenings, lower oxygen levels during sleep, and less deep sleep.

• Sleep deprivation is associated with smaller testicles.

• Women sleeping less than eight hours a night are more likely to have irregular periods and increased rate of miscarriage in the first trimester.

Negative Metabolic Consequences of Insufficient Sleep:

Weight Gain

• Sleep duration increases food intake by 330 calories a day, especially junk food

• Sleep duration negatively affects appetite hormones (leptin and ghrelin) and carbohydrate metabolism

Diabetes/Prediabetes

• Bidirectional relationship with diabetes

• Poor sleep causes increased next-day glucose, both first-morning and post mealtime. 

• Hypoglycemia during sleep can cause adrenaline surges (those who have hyperinsulinemia or a hypoadrenal state).

• Pre-diabetes is associated with poor sleep 

 Cardiovascular disease

• Lack of sleep leads to higher heart rate and blood pressure, leading to atherosclerosis.

• In one large observational study, individuals who slept 5 hours each night had a 52% higher risk of a first heart attack than those who slept 7–8 hours. 

Disease Dynamics Affecting Sleep

• Overactive sympathetic nervous system

• Insufficient melatonin

• Insufficient serotonin

• Histamine overload

• Blood sugar imbalances/cortisol/adrenaline

• GABA/Glutamate imbalance

• Nocturia (need to urinate too much at night)

• Pain

• Restless leg syndrome

• Sleep-disordered breathing - sleep apnea, snoring, mouth breathing

• Hormonal imbalances (e.g. estrogen dominance, low progesterone, hot flashes)

• Dysregulated cortisol rhythm/levels (notably high OR low)