How Sleep Strengthens Your Immune System
Researchers say adequate sleep helps T cells in your body fight off infection
If you needed another reason to get a good sleep, this might be it.
Sleep helps the immune system.
Numerous studies have reported the benefits of a good night’s sleep, and now researchers from Germany have found that sound sleep improves immune cells known as T cells.
“T cells are a type of… immune cells that fight against intracellular pathogens, for example virus-infected cells such as flu, HIV, herpes, and cancer cells,” Stoyan Dimitrov, PhD, a researcher at the University of Tübingen and an author of the study, told Healthline.
“We show that the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline (also known as epinephrine and norepinephrine) and pro-inflammatory molecules prostaglandins inhibit the stickiness of a class of adhesion molecules called integrins,” Dr. Dimitrov said. “Because the levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline, and prostaglandins are low during sleep time, the stickiness of the integrins is stronger. This stickiness is important because in order for T cells to kill virus-infected cells or cancer cells, they need to get in direct contact with them, and the integrin stickiness is known to promote this contact.”
T cells play an important role in the body’s immune system.
When cells in the body recognize a virally infected cell, they activate integrins, a sticky type of protein, that then allows them to attach to and kill infected cells.
The researchers compared T cells from healthy volunteers who either slept or stayed awake all night.
They found that in the study participants who slept, their T cells showed higher levels of integrin activation than in the T cells of those who were awake.
The findings indicate that sleep has the potential to improve T cell functioning. For people who get poor sleep, stress hormones may inhibit the ability of T cells to function as effectively.
“Stress hormones dip while the body is asleep. High levels of these substances might decrease the efficiency of T cell immune response to kill pathogens,” Dimitrov said.
Adults need a minimum of seven hours sleep every night for improved health and well-being.
In 2016 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that more than one-third of Americans weren’t getting enough sleep.
Kimberley Hardin, MD, director of the sleep medicine fellowship program at the University of California Davis, says many people take good sleep for granted.
“People underestimate the importance of sleep, and less than seven hours per night on a regular basis has negative effects. It essentially creates a fight-or-flight state, with increased stress hormones and release of adrenaline,” she told Healthline
Despite numerous studies proving the negative health impacts of poor sleep, experts say many people still don’t prioritize getting enough sleep.
“People have to honestly reflect on the amount of sleep they’re getting because a lot of the problems are voluntarily induced, and they just need to decide to prioritize an adequate night’s sleep,” Eric Olson, MD, a pulmonologist and sleep medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told Healthline.
Having a comfortable, dark, cool bedroom environment and eliminating distractions from electronic devices, pets, or a snoring bed partner is key,” he said. “And exercise can promote better quality sleep. Watching how much alcohol and caffeine you consume is important, too.”
“Good sleep must be a priority because there’s so much going on in our worlds,” Dr. Olson said, “that unless you consciously decide you’re going to make enough time for sleep, it’s just not going to happen.”
Researchers say getting good sleep can strengthen your immune system.
In a recent study, scientists say they discovered that quality sleep can bolster the T cells in your body that fight off infection.
Good sleep does this by enhancing the ability of T cells to adhere to and destroy cells infected by viruses and other pathogens.
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