Adults should sleep deprivation for at least seven hours per night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and it can be hard sometimes to get that much. At some point getting less sleep than you need is almost a given — whether it ‘s stress or having some underlying health problems.
Basically irregular lack of sleep is associated with various health issues like slower brain aging and general mental deterioration.
- Lack of sleep hurts the body, particularly heart health, researchers say in a study from Uppsala University.
- In the crossover study, researchers followed participants for periods of both “healthy” and “bad” sleep.
- Biomarkers of heart health and inflammation increased only after 3 nights of sleep deprivation, researchers report.
A restful night’s sleep as opposed to a restless one
While it’s true that “earlier work has shown the cardiovascular risks of prolonged sleep deprivation (Trusted Source), we still think that more research is needed into physiological implications and short term sleep deprivation”.
16 young men considered to be normal weight were included in this trial looking at the health consequences of sleep deprivation. 3 nights of monitoring in a sleep lab were part of each of the two hours in which the researchers carried out the study.
Inflammatory proteins may increase as a result of inadequate sleep.
After analysing the data, the researchers found they were able to manipulate a person’s biomarkers with just a short loss of sleep.
Proteins causing an increased risk of cardiovascular disease were elevated after just three nights of reduced sleep, a study finds.
The harmful effect of sleep limitation was not totally eliminated by exercise Although some effect of exercise on protein levels have been observed, the subjects still were elevated in 16 proteins involved in cardiovascular disease.
“The increased set contains several proteins associated with stress, interleukin and chemokine, ” the study authors said.
BDNF and IL-6 (Trusted Source), two useful proteins associated with the health benefits of exercise, were both increased in all cases, regardless of sleep quality (but in comparison with healthy sleepers, the amount of proteins of those with sleep restriction was lower).
Even young healthy males can suffer biochemical changes in response to brief sleep deprivation, the research suggests, and it underlines the need to know the potential cardiovascular benefits of a few nights of sleep deprivation.
Subjects should be further investigated to understand what potential effects of temporary sleep deprivation on women and older people may be, the study’s authors said.
The health effects of sleep deprivation
The findings in the study were discussed with Medical News Today by Cheng-Han Chen, MD, board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center’s Structural Heart Program.
“After a few nights of sleep deprivation, this biomarker-based study found differences in blood chemistry associated with inflammation, ” Chen said. “This suggests a physiological mechanism through which a person’s health may be affected by not getting enough sleep. “
While the findings are “not wholly surprising, ” Chen said that sleep disorders can be spread among a range of health conditions. The effects of sleep deprivation on immunological and reproductive system, and cardiovascular, can be attributed to sleep deprivation, Chen said.
health.
Several strategies to enhance sleep
People should tack on “a regular sleep schedule and nighttime routine” to improve the quality of sleep they get and reduce the chances of activating negatively charged proteins, linked to a lack of sleep, Chen said.
We advise patients also to have good sleep ‘hygiene’ such as not drinking alcohol and caffeine before night, avoiding electronics before sleep, taking short naps during the day, exercising regularly and eating a well-balanced diet, Chen told MNU.
MNU also sat down with Harneet Walia, MD, medical director of sleep at Baptist Health South Florida’s Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute.
“These findings provide significant evidence from a vast literature that sleep duration is a direct effect on cardiovascular health, ” Walia said, pointing to “good techniques” employed in the study.
