National Sleep Awareness Week is March 9 – 15 – a time to learn more about the importance of sleep for health and well-being, as well as ways that lack of sleep may be impacting you.
Let’s begin by talking about your circadian rhythm. You know, your body’s internal master clock – everyone has one! It’s present in most living things, including animals, plants and microorganisms.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, nearly every tissue and organ in humans has its own circadian rhythm. It controls things like your sleep/wake cycle, digestion and body temperature. This biological process helps produce the hormone melatonin in the evening, causing you to feel sleepy, and slows that production in the morning when you’re exposed to daylight, which allows you to wake up and be alert.
What’s your circadian rhythm?
• Your body’s biological clock is located in your brain in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which produces circadian rhythms and regulates the timing of things in your body, like when you want to sleep or eat.
• These rhythms are named circadian after the Latin word meaning “about a day” because they tend to occur at least every 24 hours.
• Natural factors in your body produce circadian rhythms, but signals in the environment, like daylight, as well as exercise and temperature, also affect them.
• Circadian rhythms ensure that your body’s processes are synched and optimized during each 24-hour period. They aren’t unique to humans though — they also help some animals sleep and stay safe in their shelters at night, while causing some animals to be awake and hunt at night and sleep during the day.
• In humans, circadian rhythms control many body processes. For instance, your digestive system produces proteins to make sure you eat on schedule, and the endocrine system regulates hormones to match your energy expenditures during the day.
• The circadian rhythms for each of the systems in the body are strongly influenced by a master clock in the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, sending signals at the appropriate times.
Why does your circadian rhythm matter?
According to Mayo Clinic, lack of sleep can affect your immune system. Studies show that people who don’t get quality sleep or enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as a common cold virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.
During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines, some of which help promote sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when you have an infection or inflammation, or when you’re under stress. Sleep deprivation may decrease production of these protective cytokines. In addition, infection-fighting antibodies and cells are reduced during periods when you don’t get enough sleep.
So, your body needs sleep to fight infectious diseases. Long-term lack of sleep also increases your risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease.
Learn more online.
For more information on sleep awareness, visit these helpful links:
• Explore five myths about sleep and health on our podcast.
• Read our blog piece about sleeping your way to better mental health.
• Parents and guardians: Discover how screen time affects kids’ sleep.
• Learn what to know before you get a sleep test, in this podcast from our friends at Riverside Healthcare.
• Watch this short video on sleep health, from our partners at Springfield Clinic.
• Help your child get better sleep – read these tips from Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System.
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