Stress. Parenthood. Shift work. Illness. Many factors can affect the quality and quantity of sleep we get.
According to the Sleep Health Foundation, around one on three people have trouble sleeping, whether finding it hard to fall asleep or to stay asleep.1
If so many of us are struggling to sleep, is it really so important? Short answer: yes. And it’s not just because you’ll be grumpy without it, come the morning.
Immune boosting Zs
Good quality sleep is linked with a variety of health benefits, but in particular, it has been shown to support a well-balanced immune response.2
“Getting enough high-quality sleep each night is a great way to help your body restore and recharge and support your immune system,” said Sarah Gray, registered pharmacist, nutritionist and General Manager Health and Nutrition at HealthyLife.
“Some studies show that if you don’t get enough good quality sleep, you may be more likely to get sick after exposure to a virus or infection, and you may even recover slower.”3
An important note for this time of year: sleep is also beneficial to vaccine uptake.
“After you have a vaccine, it’s really important that you have a good sleep, because [if you do] there’s some evidence that the vaccine is better taken up than for those who are sleep deprived,” said Julia Chapman, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research who is working in the CogSleep Centre of Research Excellence, which is looking to optimise sleep for brain health and ageing.
“We also know that your sleep changes when you have an active infection. In laboratory animals with active influenza infections, they’ve been shown to have more non-REM [rapid eye movement] sleep. So, it appears that this is somehow helping the body sort of fix itself.”
She adds that when someone is sleep-deprived, such as in the case of a sleep disorder, “all sorts of pro-inflammatory cytokines increase”, so having good sleep is important for a properly functioning immune system.
Quantity versus quality
Do you ever wake feeling unrested despite getting a solid eight hours of shut-eye? We often hear that seven to nine hours is the ideal amount of sleep for an adult, but quality is just as important as quantity.
“The key is to try and make these hours high-quality sleep, which is restful and restorative,” Ms Gray said. “Sleep quality is impacted by things like how many times you wake each night, how long you sleep for and the amount of time you actually sleep while in bed.”
Dr Chapman says some people might lie down and stay in bed with their eyes closed for eight hours but fail to have restorative sleep throughout that time.
“They’re not actually going through the sleep stages as they should be,” she said.
The condition of sleep apnoea is a common example of this. A person’s airways close, stopping breathing and causing brain arousals that disrupt sleep throughout the night.
“Because of this, they’re not getting into the sort of deeper levels of sleep – the slow-wave sleep that’s required for the rest of the brain and body – and not into REM sleep, which is required for memory consolidation as well,” Ms Gray said.
Sleep through the ages
Good sleep is important at all ages, but sleep needs change throughout our lives.
“From birth until around the age of 20, your sleep needs are on the rise, but then they stabilise and your body finds its natural rhythm,” Ms Gray said.
“Interestingly, teenagers typically experience a change in the timing of their sleep-wake cycle. They tend to go to sleep later at night and then want to sleep in the next day.”
How a person sleeps as they age also changes.
A newborn’s sleep is characterised in a different way to that of adults, says Dr Chapman, because the brainwaves are quite different.
“In babies, about 40 per cent of sleep is REM-like, which is the dreaming sleep,” she said. “But as we get older, that REM-like sleep reduces. In young adults – ages 18 to 30 – you’re seeing that about 50 per cent of your total sleep time is in the lightest stages of sleep, with about 20 per cent in both REM sleep and slow-wave sleep.”
As we age, the amounts of slow-wave sleep and REM sleep naturally decline a little and the amount of the total sleep time also declines.
“In a way, it looks like sleep gets worse with age,” Dr Chapman said. “People take a little bit longer to get to sleep as they get older. They’re more likely to have breathing disturbances during their sleep. They’re more likely to have these micro-arousals. Some of that is because sleep disorders do increase generally as people get older. But also, it does appear that it’s quite a normal thing for sleep to become a bit more fragmented as people age. It can just be a normal part of ageing.”
Sleep hygiene
While some sleep disruptors can’t easily be avoided, on the whole, the key to a good night’s sleep is to implement what’s known as good sleep hygiene: a regular set of lifestyle and environment strategies to improve your sleep.
“Implementing good sleep hygiene can help keep your sleep patterns consistent irrespective of what life throws at you,” Ms Gray said.
She shared some examples:
- Ensuring a regular sleep pattern and building a strong sleep cycle. This means going to bed at the same time each night and getting out of bed at the same time each morning, including weekends.
- It’s important for the body and brain to associate the bed with sleep, and sleep alone. To achieve this, such activities as watching TV, working, eating and using electronic devices should be avoided in the bedroom before or during regular sleeping times.
- A bedtime routine can help prepare your body to sleep. This might mean that in the hour before you go to bed you start to wind down and engage in a quiet and low-stimulation activity such as taking a warm bath or reading quietly.
- Going offline and turning your technology off in the evenings, particularly in the hour before bedtime, helps the body prepare for sleep.
- Eat an evening meal at least two hours before you want to sleep. In the hours before bedtime avoid caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee or soft drinks.
Dr Chapman adds that you shouldn’t stress oversleep if your current habits cause no issues.
“There’s a lot of hype at the moment that we’ve all got to concentrate on our sleep, and everyone’s got to sleep really well,” she said. “If you’re a good sleeper and you feel good during the day, then keep doing what you’re doing. Be happy being happy.”
References
- sleephealthfoundation.org.au/pdfs/Insomnia.pdf
- sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/how-sleep-affects-immunity
- mayoclinic.org
This article was originally published in the May issue of Retail Pharmacy Assistants e-magazine.
