Most people think of their immune system is this nebulous thing that operates completely on its own, independent of human intervention. But that is actually not the case. As a matter of fact, the health and robustness of your immune system is largely dependent on the quality of sleep you get at night. And if you aren’t getting the quality rest that your body needs to function at its best, then you are doing your immune system a gigantic disservice.
Granted, the occasional restless night isn’t going to completely destroy your immune system. But if it keeps happening over and over again over a long period of time, there can be some pretty dire consequences. It isn’t just the common cold or flu that your immune system is responsible for defeating, either. There are dozens if not hundreds of pathogens your immune system is fighting off each and every day in order to keep you healthy and safe. But if you don’t get good sleep, your immune system doesn’t even have a fighting chance. We’re going to take a closer look at exactly how closely sleep and your immune system are intertwined below. We’re also going to give you some helpful tips for better rest in order to keep your immune system healthy.
Poor Sleep, Poor Immunity, and the Stress Response
Although needs vary from one person to the next, the average healthy adult needs at least 8 hours of sleep each night. If you feel good and refreshed when you wake up in the morning, that’s a strong sign that you have slept enough hours to maintain good health. On the other hand, if you wake up groggy and you’re desperate for that first cup of coffee in the morning, that’s a bad sign. Other bad signs are if you feel mentally dull, can’t seem to focus, or have trouble remembering things. Coincidentally enough, these are also signs that the body is under strehttps://www.avinolpmblog.com/index.php/2019/03/30/reasons-why-cant-sleep/ss according to recent European sleep studies.
Stress sometimes gets a bad rap. A little bit of stress here and there is okay. It’s often referred to as hormetic stress, and it can actually make you healthier if you do it right – similarly to how a vaccine can help your body fight disease by giving you a little bit of the pathogen you want to protect yourself from. But the dose makes the poison. Subjecting yourself to too much stress, not giving yourself enough time to recover from little doses of hormetic stress, or both can actually have a counterproductive effect on your health and wellness.
Sleep is an essential part of the recovery process, whether you’re talking about hormetic stress, regular stress, or any other type of stress you put your body under. If you don’t recover, the damage begins to accumulate and can cause chronic disease overtime. Researchers are now starting to aim the blame finger for diseases like cardiovascular disease, obesity, and even diabetes at poor sleep in addition to diet and lifestyle choices. This is due in part to recently published scientific research on sleep in human health. In some of these studies, healthy individuals exhibited signs of insulin resistance, poor cholesterol markers, and more after subjecting themselves to a restricted night of sleep. As tempting as it is to say “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”, it turns out that denying your body the sleep it needs might be the quickest way to get to your final rest.
Poor Sleep and a Compromised Immune System
The connection between poor sleep and poor health has always felt intuitively correct, but we’ve never had a lot of scientific proof to back it up until recently. One of the more interesting studies which helps establish a strong connection between poor sleep and poor health has to do with T-cell production. The less sleep you get, the fewer T-cells your body produces. T-cells are important white blood cells which patrol your bloodstream 24/7, searching out pathogens and killing them before they can multiply and cause you harm. The fewer T-cells you have, the fewer soldiers you have on patrol. This makes it easier for pathogens to invade.
People with chronically low T-cell counts often experience more frequent bouts of sickness. They also take longer to recover from being sick. This is more than just an annoying inconvenience. It can mean time spent off work and loss of income, it can cause emotional stress, and all of these things can hinder your ability to get good rest in turn. Hence it becomes a vicious cycle.
Get Better Sleep Tonight and Boost Your Immunity Now
Although this cycle seems impossible to break, you can dig your way out of this hole and start getting immune-boosting rest quickly. You’re going to want to start by fixing any problems you have in your sleep hygiene routine. And if you don’t have a sleep hygiene routine, well, you better create one! We actually have a very informative page all about sleep hygiene that beginners and experts alike can use to create and craft the perfect sleep hygiene routine.
The next thing you need to do is focus on getting the most natural sleep you possibly can. Whether you start relying on natural relaxation methods, throw out your pharmacological sleeping pills, alter your diet, or switch to a natural herbal sleep aid, you need to stop relying on crutches and start trusting your body more. It’s so easy to forget that the human body has evolved over tens of thousands of years to maintain optimal health when left to its own devices. The less we interfere, the easier it will be for our bodies to readjust themselves to a healthy schedule and get back onto an ideal circadian rhythm.
We know that sounds easier said than done. And that sentiment is true for a lot of people. Why not make your first step a simple one and take a look at one of the safest and most highly recommended natural sleep aids: Avinol PM? It has a fantastic ingredients profile, great customer approval ratings, and it’s wildly affordable compared to similar formulas. But don’t stop there. Feel free to keep browsing our site for more tips, tricks, and information on how to get the best possible sleep!