Did you know?
62 SAGA.CO.UK/AUG-MAG^ I^2018
o you slide into eight hours of
blissful sleep as soon as your head
hits the pillow? Or are you
a night owl, late to bed and groggy in the
morning from too little rest?
If you’ve recently had a bad night’s sleep,
you’ll already be uncomfortably aware
of the consequences. You’ll feel grumpy and
won’t be able to function normally for the
rest of the day.
And even a very brief period of
insuffi cient sleep can have immediate
health effects, says Professor Matthew
Walker, director of the Center for Human
Sleep Science at the University of California,
Berkeley. ‘For example, a study limited
healthy young adults to four hours of sleep
for one night,’ he says. ‘There was an
immediate next-day impairment in their
immune systems. Specifi cally, participants
suffered a 7 0% decrease in critical
anti-cancer fi ghting cells, called naturalPoor sleep costs money
Sleep deprivation doesn’t
just have harmful effects
on health: it can affect the
economy, due to lower
productivity and higher risk
of mortality.
According to a study, Why
Sleep Matters – The Economic
Costs of Insuffi cient Sleep,
lack of sleep (or sleep
deprivation) among working
people in the UK costs
the economy as much as
£ 4 0 billion a year. The study
found that if people who
sleep for less than six hours
a night increased this to six
to seven hours, it could add
£ 24 billion to the economy.killer cells. That is a concerning state of
immune defi ciency.’
The cause, according to Professor Walker,
is in part related to the agitating infl uence
of the nervous system as it is forced
into overdrive as you stay awake for too
long. ‘Ramping up the body’s level of
stress-related nervous activity provokes
an unnecessary and sustained
infl ammation response. When faced with
a real threat, a brief spike of nervous-system
activity will often trigger a similarly
transient response from infl ammatory
activity – one that is useful in anticipation
of potential bodily harm.
‘However, if this response is left switched
on for many hours (or weeks), a nonspecifi c
state of chronic infl ammation occurs.
This can blunt and hinder the immune
system, including critical immune factors
relevant to cancer.’
While diseases such as cancer can take
a long time to develop and become
apparent, there are other sleep-related
health problems that can become obvious
very quickly.
‘You’re four times as likely to catch
a cold if you’ve averaged fi ve hours’ sleep
a night in the past week, rather than eight
hours,’ says Professor Walker.
‘And if you don’t get suffi cient sleep in theD
You’re four times as likely to
catch a cold if you’ve averaged
fi ve hours’ sleep a night in thepast week, rather than eight
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP PATTERN
Stick to a schedule. Go to
bed and wake up at the
same time of day, no matter
what. Even if you’ve had
a bad night’s sleep the night
before or it’s the weekend.
The time you wake up
is most important: never
deviate from that.Keep cool. Your body’s core
temperature needs to drop
by around 1 – 2 C to initiatesleep. This is why it’s always
easier to fall asleep in
a room that’s too cold rather
than too hot, says Professor
Walker. About 1 8.5C is
optimal for your bedroom.
(It’s fi ne to wear socks if
your feet get cold.)Get out of bed. Never lie
awake in bed for more
than 2 0 minutes. Instead,
you should get up and dosomething quiet and
relaxing until the urge to
sleep returns. Only then,
according to Professor
Walker, should you consider
going back to bed.Cut back on caffeine.
Any caffeine that you drink
after 2 pm could prevent
you having the quality
of sleep that you need,
says Dr Mark Winwood.Don’t go to bed hungry – or
just after a big meal. Eating
something light before
bed, such as half a banana,
is perfect, according to
Dr Winwood.Avoid alcohol. It affects
your ability to go into
deep sleep and the nearer
to your bedtime you
drink, the more disruptive it
is to your sleep cycle.From staying cool to not going to bed hungry, here’s your nightly checklist