Why Sleep is essential for your Immune System

How Getting The Right Amount Of Sleep Helps Your Immune System 

It is very important that you get the correct amount of sleep for a lot of good reasons. One of these is that a good sleep will stabilize your stress levels and another is that it will help you to manage your weight. Getting the right amount of sleep also has a significant impact on your immune system. 

Your Body is Working Hard when you are Asleep 

People that do not get the correct amount of sleep on a regular basis usually end up becoming sick more times than they should and taking a lot longer to recover than normal. You need to understand that your body is still working when you sleep. 

In fact it is particularly active when you are resting. It is taking care of those important maintenance tasks behind the scenes that are essential for you to stay healthy. 

You produce Cytokines only when you sleep

A very important thing that your body will do when you are sleeping is to create and use cytokines. Cytokines are tiny proteins that assist your immune system to perform more effectively. It is only possible for your body to create cytokines when you are asleep. 

People that are not getting the right amount of sleep are very likely to be deficient in cytokines. This means that their immune system will be a lot less effective to protect them from harmful diseases. 

Sleep affects your White Blood Cells 

Your white blood cells are impacted by the amount of sleep that you get each night. If you do not get enough sleep then your white blood cells will not be as effective as they should be. Your white blood cells rely on a number of hormones to change the way that they respond and their overall effectiveness in fighting foreign bodies. 

The majority of these hormones are produced while you are sleeping. If you do not get the correct amount of sleep then you will have a lower hormone count which will lead to your white blood cells not responding as well as they should. If this happens any sickness will be worse than normal and recovery time longer. 

Other ways that Sleep affects you 

There are some other serious ways that sleep can affect your health. An example of this is that if you do not get adequate sleep then this can lead to weight gain. Being overweight is not a good thing as it significantly increases the risk of heart disease. 

Ways that you can get more Sleep 

If you are not getting good quality sleep every day then you need to take action because it is so important for your immune system and your overall health. One good thing that you can do is establish a schedule that you will follow consistently. In a way you will trick your body into believing that it must sleep at a specific time each day if you regularly follow your schedule.

As an adult you need to be getting between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. As well as establishing a schedule, you can try using one of the many sleep aids that are available. Take a look at what is out there and decide which you think will work best for you.