The Benefits of Sleep
People know that they feel much better – both mentally and physically – after a night of restful sleep. But many don’t realize that sleep does more than give the brain and body a boost of energy; it repairs them on a cellular level, strengthening key systems to fight disease and improve fitness, and may be the most powerful weapon in the battle against the “diseases of civilization,” such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and depression.
Sleep is an essential need fine-tuned by millions of years of evolution to enable almost all the body’s daily functions, from preserving and building muscle to fighting infections and maintaining healthy metabolism. However, research suggests that getting too little sleep can be damaging to your health in ways researchers are just beginning to understand.
The most prevalent view of sleep is that it is a temporary state of unresponsiveness, and that it is characterized by a transient reduction in the responsiveness of both thalamus and neocortex (Krueger and Obal, 1993; Carskadon and Dement, 2005). More recently, researchers have reframed this hypothesis by showing that the sensory inputs that occur during sleep are blocked by the brain’s natural glymphatic system, which clears waste products from the central nervous system (Tooni and Cirelli, 2013; Krueger and Deboer, 2020).
During sleep, your memory can become both stronger and more fragile – a process known as consolidating or reorganizing memories. It also seems that sleeping helps your brain to erase or forget unneeded information, reducing the clutter in your mind. In addition, sleep appears to help us regulate our emotions and support mental stability.
Insufficient or poor-quality sleep has been linked to a host of other issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, diabetes and a higher risk for some cancers. Researchers are exploring how sleep, a key part of the body’s stress response, may be involved in some of these processes by helping to reduce inflammation and the production of inflammatory chemicals called cytokines.
Sleep is particularly important for Blacks, who are underdiagnosed and undertreated for sleep disorders and have higher rates of some chronic health conditions. This is likely related to socioeconomic factors like lack of health insurance coverage and a stigma against seeking health care when you are sick, as well as challenges in accessing health services, including sleep disorder treatments. In fact, Blacks are twice as likely as whites to be hospitalized for undiagnosed or untreated sleep problems, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology in September 2020. This is due in large part to barriers that include racism, distrust of the medical system and a lack of transportation and child care options. However, improving sleep habits can help to bridge the gap and lead to more people receiving treatment for their health concerns. This is especially important given that the vast majority of health outcomes are influenced by sleep habits. This includes the quality of our social relationships, our ability to think clearly and react quickly and the way that we look and feel.