For a great many Americans—some estimates put the figure as high as 70 million—getting a good night’s sleepis just a dream, alas. The reality, according to survey after survey, is that the number of hours we spend sleeping has been shrinking in recent years. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this collective dearth of sleep is currently at epidemic proportions.
Moreover, we all have our own ways ofcoming up short on shut-eye. Some of us have erratic, unpredictable sleep; we might lose most or all of a night for various reasons. Others are more consistent but not in good ways; we seem to habitually experience shortened or poor-quality sleep. Toss in shift work, chronic health issues—physical as well as mental— recurring stress, even relentless nightmares, and you have the makings of a nation that can seem to be running on sleep fumes.
The link between sleep and immune function is complicated. As sleep expert Michael Breus, PhD, notes, “In talking to my patients, I realize that while most of them understand that excessive inflammation can be harmful … they don’t know that poor sleep is a contributor to inflammation.” It is a two-way street, explains Breus. “The relationship between inflammation and sleep brings together two complex and fundamental body systems.” Not only are sleep and the immune system dependent on each other for optimal health, but it’s a feedback system in which problems in one system can be either a cause or an effect of problems in the other.
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The link betweenpoor sleep and obesityis also an example of feedback loops that can make the problem worse. According to the Harvard Health publicationFighting Inflammation, “With insufficient sleep, you produce higher levels of hunger hormones and lower levels of satiety hormones, causing you to overeat—in particular, you’re likely to crave refined carbohydrates. It is also possible that fatigue may cause you to be less physically active, and thus miss out on exercise’s weight-loss and anti-inflammatory benefits.”
Poor sleep can also be part of the feedback loop in depression, according toFighting Inflammation: “Depression shares many of the same characteristics, risk factors, and symptoms as immune-based inflammatory responses. We know that low mood, appetite loss, sleep disturbances, trouble concentrating, and a lack of energy are clear hallmarks of depression, but these are also signs of inflammation.” Links between sleep disturbances and immune response have also been investigated in schizophrenia and alcohol dependence.
Moreover, says Breus, “the differences in the ways women and men respond to sleep loss are important and understudied. Sleep’s effects over inflammation may be one area where women and men experience different degrees of consequence— and that could have implications for their vulnerabilities to chronic disease.”
Sleep is important not only for fighting off microbial infections. It also plays a role in maintaining a healthy microbiome, explains Breus. “How does a gut become unhealthy? Poor diet, stress, medication, and illness are all contributors. So too are disrupted circadian rhythms and poor sleep. Poor and insufficient sleep appear to change the composition of our natural microbiota, decreasing beneficial bacteria and increasing bacteria associated with disease.”
As Breus emphasizes, the challenge is that inflammation often has no obvious symptoms. And while the sheer complexity of the sleep-immune interconnection may seem like the bad news, on the other hand, that may be the good news too. The complexity of the interconnection offers an enormous number of avenues and opportunities that we can take to contribute to our well-being.
There is also an ever-expanding range of technological innovations that can come to your aid. The past few years have seen an explosion in AI-powered apps that can gather and track a full spectrum of sleep data, down to the minute. There are smart alarm clocks that can simulate the light of a natural sunrise every morning; smart beds and even pillows that are loaded with sensors, pumps, and vibrating panels designed to detect snoring and adjust accordingly; as well as sophisticated earbuds and white-noise machines that aim to soothe and headphones that aim to shut out all noise. All of which can help you be smart in knowing that a good night’s sleep is also serving your immune system
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