By: Matt Weik, BS, CSCS, CPT, CSN
Take a look around and ask yourself if the world around you is slowing down. If you’re like most people, you’d say this world is fast-paced, and the speed of change is only limited by the imagination to create and build. So, where does sleep fall into the equation when the world around you keeps spinning? It tends to get pushed to the side in an effort to be as productive as possible. But how does that fair with your immune system?
Unfortunately, sleep is often sacrificed in the pursuit of success, and everyone tends to burn the midnight oil to get ahead or even play catch-up. However, the toll that lack of sleep takes on our overall health, particularly on the immune system, cannot be overstated.
In this article, we will dive deeper into the intimate relationship between sleep and the immune system, shedding light on how the lack of adequate sleep can actually increase your risk of getting sick — and no one has time for that.
Disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose any condition. It is recommended that you speak with your doctor if you’re having issues sleeping at night and before you make any changes to your daily supplement regimen.
The Link Between Sleep and Immune Function
Sleep is a complex physiological process that plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall health and well-being — two things that most people take for granted. Most people don’t give any thought to their immune system and simply expect it to keep working without any attention put on it. That’s a massive error if it’s your train of thought.
Related Article: 5 Ways You Can Get a Better Night’s Sleep Starting Tonight
You see, while you sleep, your body undergoes various reparative and regulatory processes, including the release of hormones and cellular repair. Being that you’re on our website reading this article, we can assume you understand the importance of sleep as it relates to muscle recovery. Without proper rest and recovery, all your ball-busting work training in the gym will essentially be for nothing, as you’ll find your results are suffering or completely non-existent.
The same goes for your sleep and your immune system.
Your immune system is a sophisticated network of cells, tissues, and organs that all work together to defend your body against harmful invaders such as viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. A well-functioning and optimized immune system is essential for maintaining health and preventing illness. Sadly, the delicate balance of the immune system can be completely disrupted by chronic sleep deprivation and insomnia.
The Toll of Sleep Deprivation on the Immune System
Focusing on your muscle recovery with proper sleep and rest shouldn’t be the only thing on your mind. More sleep (a minimum of at least seven hours of quality sleep each night) can drastically improve your immune system and help keep your body protected from the nasties that infiltrate your body and want to do you harm.
Below are some issues that you may experience if you find yourself getting less and less sleep in an effort to get more done in 24 hours (or, in more extreme cases, you suffer from insomnia or a sleep disorder).
1. Reduced Production of Immune Cells
One of the primary ways that lack of sleep affects your immune system is by diminishing the production of crucial immune cells. For example, T cells play an important role in orchestrating your immune response and are produced and activated during sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation hinders this process, potentially decreasing the number of T cells available to fight off infections.
2. Altered Cytokine Production
Cytokines are signaling molecules that facilitate communication among your immune cells. Lack of sleep disrupts the delicate balance of cytokine production, leading to an overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a reduction in anti-inflammatory cytokines. This imbalance sets the stage for you to suffer from chronic inflammation, which is linked to various health problems, including autoimmune disorders and increased susceptibility to infections.
3. Impaired Antibody Response
Getting enough sleep each night is crucial for the proper functioning of B cells, which are responsible for producing antibodies. These antibodies play a vital role in recognizing and neutralizing foreign pathogens that enter your body. When you are sleep-deprived, you may exhibit a weakened antibody response, which leaves you more susceptible to infections and less equipped to fight off the harmful invaders.
4. Disrupted Circadian Rhythms
Your body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm, regulates various physiological processes, including your immune response. Chronic sleep deprivation disrupts your circadian rhythm, potentially causing an overall dysregulation of your immune function. This dysregulation can increase the risk of infections and a compromised ability to fight off the harmful pathogens that infiltrate your system.
5. Increased Stress Hormones
Sleep deprivation triggers the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol. We all know that when cortisol levels increase, it can lead to weight gain due to ghrelin levels also increasing. While cortisol is essential in acute stress situations, chronic elevation due to lack of sleep can have detrimental effects on your immune system. Elevated cortisol levels suppress immune function, impairing your body’s ability to effectively defend against harmful pathogens.
Focus on Sleep to Up-Armor Your Immune System
The connection between sleep and the immune system is a critical aspect of overall health that you can’t underestimate if you want to fight off illness. The consequences of chronic sleep deprivation extend far beyond feelings of fatigue and drowsiness where you’re constantly downing coffee or energy drinks all day — they reach deep into the intricate web of the immune system, compromising its ability to protect the body effectively.
Recognizing the importance of prioritizing sleep is not just a matter of your well-being but a fundamental step towards fortifying your body’s natural defense mechanisms against the many challenges it faces on a daily basis.
If you need a little help in the sleep department, we have you covered with MuscleSport Lions Mane Sleep PM.
Not only is MuscleSport Lions Mane Sleep PM a powerful sleep aid, but it also supports improved neuroplasticity, cognition, memory, and adrenal function. If you want to feel more at ease and transition smoothly from being wide awake into a quality REM sleep cycle, you’ll want to wind down each night with Lions Mane Sleep PM.
MuscleSport Lions Mane Sleep PM contains powerful ingredients like organic Lions Mane Mushroom, GABA, L-Theanine, 5-HTP, and Melatonin to help you achieve a more restful night’s sleep to recover faster and help support the immune system.
The powerful combination of ingredients and a high dosage of 10mg of Melatonin is the perfect matrix of ingredients to boost the immune system and support healthy sleep patterns. It’s important to take note of the high dosage of Melatonin in Lions Mane Sleep PM. You may only associate Melatonin with sleep, but research has shown that Melatonin can enhance both innate and cellular immunity.
Don’t sleep on MuscleSport Lions Mane Sleep PM. Instead, leverage it and use it to your advantage to improve your sleep and immune system tonight!