Older adults frequently struggle to sleep soundly. This may be caused by frequent awakenings, decreased total sleeping time or medication for heart disease or high blood pressure affecting sleep quality.
Studies have linked poor sleep with accelerated biological aging, yet further investigation must be completed to explore this connection. Some indicators could include DNA damage accumulation, shortening telomeres, and increased cell senescence.
1. It boosts the immune system
An excellent night of restful sleep is absolutely vital to our bodies, as the night-time hours allow your body and brain to work in tandem in maintaining an effective immune system to fight viruses and infections. A poor night of restful slumber, however, may throw these processes off course and increase your risk of illness.
As soon as a pathogen enters our bodies, our immune cells release a protein known as integrin that allows them to bind with it and destroy it. According to research published by Journal of Experimental Medicine, however, during sleep adrenergic hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline, as well as pro-inflammatory molecules like prostaglandins can interfere with T cells (which act like our body’s attack dogs against viruses) binding with integrin effectively and thus eliminating viral particles from circulation.
Sleep can boost both innate and adaptive immunity. When your immune system comes in contact with new pathogens, it records them to recognize and respond more rapidly in future – known as immunological memory – which explains why infections such as chickenpox or measles rarely resurface again.
Studies show that sleep aids the formation of immunological memory by encouraging interaction between antigen presenting cells and T helper cells during slow-wave sleep, with reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines and catecholamines levels during this phase. Sleep also enhances immunological memory formation after vaccination by increasing antigen-specific T cells post immunization – and mature dendritic cells lose their a-adrenoceptors, becoming less vulnerable to catecholamine-suppressive effects in lymph nodes during this phase of slow wave sleep.
2. It reduces inflammation
Scientists are only just beginning to understand how sleep impacts biological aging. This field, known as Geroscience, has quickly emerged as an exciting and important research area that may one day help reduce age related illnesses.
One key way that sleep can enhance aging is by decreasing inflammation. While inflammation is an integral part of tissue repair and infection response, prolonged inflammation can damage healthy tissue and disrupt normal cellular function. Sleep can help mitigate inflammation by modulating specific genes responsible for activating it as well as producing anti-inflammatory cytokines that reduce it further.
Sleep can also slow the effects of aging by helping prevent the accumulation of senescent cells, or nonproductive cells which no longer produce anything, leading to inflammation and cell death. Recent research indicates that fragmented sleep increases leukocyte senescence which in turn may increase levels of proinflammatory cytokines as well as oxidative stress, leading to increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines as well as decrease in their telomere length, which is an indicator of cellular senescence. This phenomenon may contribute to faster aging effects of short sleep cycles over time, leading to premature cell death as well.
Studies have demonstrated that sleep deprivation leads to an increase in C-reactive protein (CRP), which acts as a marker of inflammation. High levels of CRP have been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes; poor sleeping can increase one’s CRP levels by prompting their bodies to release more inflammatory cytokines during restless nights.
Sleep, aging and inflammation is an intricate relationship requiring further study. However, it is clear that circadian processes play an essential role in managing inflammation responses and maintaining health.
3. It helps you focus
While sleeping, your mind processes complex information and attempts to form connections between new memories. This process not only aids learning faster and remembering things better but also increases your critical thinking ability and problem-solving skills. If you find yourself frequently forgetting things then perhaps not getting enough sleep may be the culprit.
As you age, you might think your sleep requirements decrease, but that isn’t necessarily true. Studies have demonstrated that adults require 7-9 hours of high-quality restful sleep each night. A lack of quality rest can increase risks such as heart disease, diabetes and depression.
Step one to combating these problems is getting an accurate diagnosis from your physician. A physician can determine if you have a sleep disorder and recommend treatments to get back on track with restful sleeping patterns that give you energy to conquer each day and achieve your goals.
Your brain is active during sleep, secreting growth hormones and consolidating memories while also making crucial creativity-inducing connections. Studies have also demonstrated how sleep serves an important housekeeping function by clearing away harmful toxins accumulated over time – this is especially important for shift workers or military personnel who deal with sleep deprivation issues.
Sleep is essential to both mental and physical wellbeing, yet many don’t place enough importance on it. A lack of restful slumber can wreak havoc with your memory, judgment, mood and overall health – as well as increase obesity rates or heart disease risks. Therefore it is imperative that we do everything possible to get enough quality restful restorative zzz’s every night.
4. It boosts memory
Human memories are stored in a region called the hippocampus in our brains, with limited storage capacity; new memories run the risk of being forgotten as old ones take up space. To prevent this from occurring, while you sleep each night the hippocampus clears out excess information to strengthen memories through consolidation processes known as memory consolidation; additionally it reactivates original learning material in similar parts of the brain that they were first activated upon activating learning material for reinforcement purposes.
Researchers are beginning to gain an insight into the molecular and cellular processes involved in memory consolidation. They’re studying changes in synaptic strengths that occur as sleep cycles progress and discovering that certain phases of sleep promote particular kinds of memories; slow-wave sleep in particular has been shown to enhance declarative or factual memory retention.
Sleep helps your brain perform multiple important tasks that improve memory. For instance, the hippocampus reduces its connections every night to free up more room for new information. Furthermore, your mind creates an “image of your day”, helping you recall specific events or remember what you read that day. This snapshot allows for easier navigation or remembering books read during that day.
Studies show that sleeping for less than six hours per night can impede with memory consolidation, leading to forgetfulness the next day. This occurs because sleeping less than six hours disrupts the activity of sleep spindles which help memory consolidation, as well as making it harder to convert new information into long-term memory – this may explain why people’s memories tend to weaken with age.
5. It reduces depression
People who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk of depression and it has been linked to poor sleeping habits. A study showed that those with depression tend to sleep less and experience longer wakeful periods compared to those without depression; however, getting quality restorative sleep can reduce symptoms of depression while improving your mood and managing stress more effectively, thus protecting you against mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.
Depression and sleep go hand-in-hand; both disorders feed off of each other. While depression often contributes to insomnia and hypersomnia (sleeping too much), studies have demonstrated that lack of sleep may also trigger these conditions. Depression may cause difficulties sleeping like difficulty falling asleep and awakening frequently during the night while insomnia may increase feelings of depression and anxiety.
An interesting new study has demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, sleep deprivation may actually have positive ramifications for some individuals suffering from depression. This can be linked to connectivity between amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex regions of the brain and mood regulation mechanisms – an area researchers are exploring further as potential ways of improving depression treatments.
Sleep deprivation can have severe repercussions for your health and may speed up the aging process, increasing risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity among other medical issues. Studies have also demonstrated that trying to catch up on missed sleep doesn’t work: even one night of deprivation activates genes associated with biological aging genes that ultimately accelerate biological aging processes.
