REST EASY: THE GUIDE TO HEALTHIER SLEEP

ACCORDING TO THE CDC, ONE IN three adults don’t get enough sleep. And depending on your profession,, those numbers might be much worse: Only 50% of doctors and police officers get adequate shut-eye every night. The effects not only affect their performance at work, but their bodies as well.

In fact, according to research published by the journal Biological Psychiatry, “losing sleep for even part of one night can trigger the key cellular pathway that produces tissue damaging inflammation.” In that study, scientists at UCLA examined 14 healthy adults and monitored a special protein that regulates the immune response, called NF-KappaB. The researchers discovered that when the participants were forced to stay awake between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., levels of NF-KappaB became elevated–a sign that even one night of poor sleep could increase the risk of inflammatory diseases, from heart disease to arthritis.

Years later, scientists at Harvard Medical School discovered even more reasons to hit the hay early. In their study, researchers focused on a common type of white blood cells called monocytes. The discovery surprised them: When people lost just four hours of sleep, the body’s monocytes began producing special strains of messenger RNA commonly known to spark inflammation. The body’s defense system wasn’t the only thing to go haywire: Blood pressure had gone through the roof too. This extra pressure on the body’s veins and blood vessels disrupted the body’s expectations for nighttime, causing a physical stress response. Writing in the journal Best Practice & Research: Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the researchers argued that, “Alterations in the stress response system during sleep loss may contribute to observed inflammatory changes.” Just another reason to get your full eight hours.