Sleep Deprived? Why you should hit the “snooze” button.

Dylan Friedmann

SVP, Chief Client Officer at APEXA Corp Bilingual Leader / business enablement / insurtech/ underwriter

Published Mar 8, 2016

We all know we need sleep, but how much and why? Have you heard people say they function on 5 hours of sleep? Maybe that is what they are used to – or they feel that they function well with that amount, but there is a great deal of research that demonstrates adults should have 7.5 -8 hours of sleep nightly, and in some cases even more! Find out how the right amount of sleep helps you in so many ways…

What are the benefits of sleep?

Quality sleep is tied to maintaining healthy body weight. Poor sleep is linked to weight gain, the strongest risk factor for obesity. If you are trying to lose weight sleep is absolutely necessary. Sleep deprivation disrupts daily fluctuations of appetite hormones, both increasing ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates appetite, and reducing levels of the hormone that suppresses appetite, leptin. (1)
Better sleep patterns improve concentration / productivity/ problem solving and focus. Sleep deprivation, or loss of sleep negatively impacts cognitive performance. Literature shows that decreases in total sleep influences attention, both working and long term memory, abilities in decision making and focus. (2,3)

Athleticism. Do you want to perform better – get your sleep!Studies have provided evidence to show that adult athletes perform better with sleep times that exceed the suggested adult hours of sleep. The measures that were improved in testing include: increased speed, higher accuracy, reaction time and mental wellbeing/mood. This has been demonstrated not only in tests with student athletes, but with elite athletes in various sports. (4,5) Don’t forget that sleep not only impacts performance, but recovery too!
Recovery. Your body (and brain) also need to recover from the strain, workouts and stress that you put your body through. During sleep protein synthesis occurs (if you have consumed protein prior to sleep) and human growth hormones are released which has a significant impact on muscle growth and physical well-being. During sleep (specifically REM) is when your body replenishes immune cells, and your body are able to restore tissue, organs and bones. (17)
Heart disease. It appears that sleeping too much or too little can be associated with a higher risk of Coronary heart disease or stroke. European Heart Journal completed a review of 15 medical studies and that found that those who sleep less than 6 hours per night have a far greater risk (48% higher risk) of developing or dying from coronary heart disease or 15% higher risk of developing or dying from a stroke than those who sleep 7 to 8 hours per night. Inversely those people who slept more than 9 hours per night also demonstrated a 65% increased risk of stroke and 38% increased risk for CHD. (6) Research has shown that inadequate sleep can contribute to cardiovascular disease, including a study of over 3000 adults aged 45 and over. (7,8)
Sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold / Immune function. Why increase your risk of getting the common cold? Studies have demonstrated that people with sleep patterns of less than 7 hours of sleep per night had a lower resistance rate to the common cold (rhinovirus) after exposure than those with 8 or more hours of sleep. They are almost 3 times as likely to catch that cold! (9) It isn’t just the common cold even small amounts of sleep loss can impact your immune function. (10)
Type 2 Diabetes and Glucose metabolism. Sleep affects Glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes risk, it has been shown that sleep deprivation even over a 1 week period can demonstrate insulin sensitivity (11) Those sleeping less than 6 hours per night (aka short sleepers), or more than 9 hours a night (aka long sleepers), have been shown to be at increased risk for type 2 diabetes (DM) or impaired glucose tolerance.(IGT) (12,13) Insulin’s job is to help the body use glucose for energy. However sleep loss can present itself in the body as similar to insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. Insulin resistance is when cells fail to use the hormone efficiently and result in high blood sugar. (14)
Inflammation in the body. Poor sleep is also connected to an increase of inflammation in the body – as such it has been linked to long tem inflammation of the digestive tract, illnesses like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).(15,16) IBS is a chronic condition that commonly causes symptoms like: cramping, abdominal pain, bloating and constipation. (18)

Worth noting is that there are factors other than age that impact how much sleep you need:

Pregnancy. Body changes during early pregnancy can increase the need for sleep.
Aging. Older adults still require the same amount of sleep as younger adults. The issue is that some older adults do tend to sleep more lightly or for shorter periods at once, which may result in the need for naps or longer time spent in bed to compensate.
Previous sleep deprivation. If you are already sleep deprived, you will require more sleep.
Sleep quality. Sleep quality is important, so if you are sleeping the 7-8 hours, but have sleep interruptions you may be getting a reduced quality and need to offset that with additional amounts of sleep.

Sleep Well ~

(1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15602591

(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/

(3) https://hbr.org/2006/10/sleep-deficit-the-performance-killer

(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21731144

(5) http://www.gssiweb.org/Article/sse-113-sleep-and-the-elite-athlete

(6) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21300732

(7) http://www.secondscount.org/healthy-living/healthy-living-detail?cid=828f98c1-fcb1-4e03-8af3-2e433847be3f#.Vt5Nc032ZKY

(8) https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/how-sleep-deprivation-affects-your-heart

(9) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19139325 2009 Jan 12; PubLMEd, US National Library of Med, National Institutes of Health .

(10) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8621064

(11) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20585000