The Healing Power of Sleep

By Jason Lindekugel, DC

If decreasing your risk for type II diabetes, heart disease, depression, cognitive dysfunction, infection, pain, digestive disorders and obesity sound good to you, GO TO SLEEP.

Sleep has been put by the wayside in the US.  Recent data put out by the National Sleep Foundation shows in 1960, Americans slept on average 8.5 hours per night.  They show by 2000 the average had dropped to 6.5 hours per night. This is alarming in light of new research showing behavioral sleep curtailment (decreased sleep) has an influence on every aspect of our health.  One way to evaluate the way sleep affects our health is to see how sleep affects our hormones.  These are powerful chemical messengers that regulate our ability to heal, grow and fight infection.

Insulin: the storage hormone

In 1999, the influential journal Lancet demonstrated insulin, a hormone that stores sugar in the cells, becomes less effective in sleep deprived individuals.  The rate of disappearance of glucose was nearly 40% slower in healthy subjects who slept 4 hrs per night for six nights.  This is lifestyle based insulin resistance.  Researchers are now finding decreased sleep plays a major roll in Insulin Resistance and Type II Diabetes.

Cortisol and Adrenaline: the stress hormones

A good way to interpret this new research is that chronic decreased sleep = increased chronic stress to all the biologic systems of the body.  Cortisol and adrenaline are the stress hormones that signal the fight flight response and mobilize energy to get us moving away from danger. This is the body’s way of allowing us to function when we should be sleeping.  It is also likely due to increased cortisol levels during sleep that insulin’s action is inhibited.  Again, this is how we get insulin resistance, and along with other lifestyle and genetic factors, Type II Diabeties.

Leptin and Ghrelin: the satiation and hunger hormones

Is not sleeping making you gain weight?  Leptin is the hormone that signals you are no longer hungry, and ghrelin is the hormone that makes signals that you are hungry.  An interesting study in the 2004 Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that leptin is decreased in individuals with sleep debt and ghrelin is oversecreted.  In fact levels leptin dropped in sleep deprived subjects as much as people who were on an 1100Kcal/day diet.  This showed that poor sleep can lead to poor food choices, and overeating.

Pain

In sleep deprivation studies, the most common reported symptom is pain.  Participants state they just feel achy all over.  It seems the perception of pain is heightened in sleep deprived individuals.

Depression

In light of all the above, it is no wonder that chronic sleep debt can cause depression.  When we are so busy that we don’t get adequate sleep, we literally use ourselves up.  We decrease the rate at which we rebuild our hormones, muscles, bones and neurotransmitters.  This last group of molecules is largely responsible for creating mood disorders such as depression.

Most or all of the damage done to our metabolism through lack of sleep and rest are reversible.  It may take years to heal, but it is worth it.  No drug or vitamin can replace the health acquired through sleep and rest.

So if you are one of the 47 million Americans who are sleep deprived, here are some helpful ways to get back to a healthy amount of sleep:

    Commit to making sleep an important part of your overall health strategy. 

     Shoot for 8 or more hours of sleep per night.

    Make a plan to manage your sleep.

    Remember, if you have been sleep deprived for a long time, sleeping normally may give you a “sleep hangover”.  This is because the adrenal glands go into a healing mode and decrease the levels of cortisol and adrenaline.  It feels like the opposite of drinking coffee.Be patient and allow yourself to heal.

Be well, and SLEEP WELL

Jason Lindekugel, DC is a chiropractor in the Concordia Neighborhood