Sleep and your immune system
A good nights sleep can differ from person to person. For example, as you get older you need less sleep than when you're a teenager, but on average you should be aiming for between eight and ten hours every night.
Sleep has loads of health benefits but for boosting your immune system it has two distinct ones:
Firstly, getting a good night sleep relaxes you. If you're stressed or anxious your body releases more adrenalin and too much of this hormone lowers your immunity.
Secondly, when you're asleep your body produces a hormone called melatonin, which helps prevent certain diseases. Not getting enough sleep, or sleeping in a room that isn't dark decreases how much melatonin your body produces - lowering your immunity and leaving you more open to disease. Even if you have a dim light in your room your melatonin levels can stop being produced completely!
Getting less than eight hours a night obviously makes you more tired and when you're tired it's easier for bugs to attack you because your body hasn't got the energy to fight them off. Any more than 10 hours sleep EVERY night means you can be as open to disease as when you don't have enough sleep. Too much melatonin has been linked to diabetes and in particular Parkinson's Disease.
Read on to find out why exercise boosts your immune system
Where next?
- Trouble sleeping? Find out about insomnia and sleep apnoea
- Read about how to handle sleep problems in children
- Find foods to beat insomnia
By Vicky Woollaston
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