When we’re sick, we often hear people telling us to get enough rest – and by rest, it usually translates to sleep. But while we are always told that sleep is important for our recovery, have you ever wondered what really goes on with our immune system and our entire body while we’re asleep? Isn’t it fascinating to find out what really happens during our sleep that helps us recuperate faster?
The Immune System and Your Body Clock
Perhaps you’ve heard about our body’s internal clocks – or technically called as the circadian rhythms. Every system in our body follows a 24-hour cycle for regulating metabolic processes, and these timings largely affect our immune response and overall health.
Relating this to sleep, the circadian rhythm controls our sleep-wake cycle by responding to dark and light. The sleep-wake cycle is then used by our immune system as a signal for performing ‘scheduled’ tasks. Therefore, if we are not getting enough rest required by our body, it also prevents our immune system from functioning effectively.
What Happens while You’re Asleep
It is interesting to think that while we are in a temporary paralytic state and our mind is unconscious, our body continues to actively produce chemicals and transmit messages to the brain.
It is during sleep that most of the restoration process in the body occurs. Many of our muscles are shut off, relaxed and repaired, tissues are rebuilt, cells are renewed, memoryand emotion is processed in the brain, and the digestive system slows down. There is also a rise and drop in various hormones, depending on the role they play and how these hormones are affected by our activities and lifestyle.
Your Immune System at Work
As for the immune system, it is not at rest either. Proteins called cytokines are produced by the body during sleep. Certain types of cytokines are helpful for promoting quality sleep, while others are necessary for combating infections. Some of these cytokines can also cause inflammation.
And if you are not getting sufficient sleep, then the production of the protective proteins are decreased, while the inflammatory cytokines increase in number. Definitely, that’s not good for your health and poses a risk for cold or flu.
In addition, the immune system also uses your sleeping hours for keeping your antibodies and disease-fighting cells in check. Thus, the lack of sleep can hinder the efficacy of these antibodies, which is why when you are both sick and sleep-deprived, it seems to take longer for your cold to go away.
The metabolic processes in the immune system can also alter sleep. For instance, you may notice that when you are having a cough or experiencing symptoms of allergy, you end up waking up in the middle of the night coughing, wheezing or wanting to scratch some itchy rash. These seem to be annoying disturbances to your sleep, but this is actually a sign that your immune system is at work and is doing its job to fight off diseases.
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