Sleep Deprivation and Cancer

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According to medical experts, when people get less than 6 hours of sleep, their risk of developing diseases begins to increase.

For instance, people working late shifts have higher risk of developing breast and colon cancer. Studies suggest that exposure to “strong light” at night time may increase risk of certain cancers. This may be due to the disruption of the normal production of melatonin, a hormone that both makes us sleepy and is thought to protect against cancer. Melatonin appears to suppress the growth of tumors and it is observed that exposure to night light reduces our body’s melatonin level.

Aside from cancer prevention, there are other healthy reasons why a good night sleep is good for you. Before you hit the sack, listed below are other important facts about sleep that you should know.

• Reduces Stress. When our body is sleep-deprived, our body goes on high alert resulting to an increase in blood pressure and increase in the production of stress hormones. It is also important to note that high blood pressure increases our risk of heart attack and stroke.

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• Improves Alertness. A good sleep makes you feel energized and alert the next day. It also increases your chances of another good and refreshing sleep the following day.

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• Memory Enhancer. A process called memory consolidation takes place during our sleep. While our body is resting, our brain is also making links between events, feelings, sensory input, etc. Getting more quality sleep will help you remember and process things better.

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• Helps Lose Weight. Researchers have also found that people who sleep less than seven hours a day usually gain weight easily as compared to individuals who sleep at least eight hours a day. It is believed that lack of sleep affects the steadiness of hormones in our body that influence our appetite. The hormones ghrelin and leptin, a regulator of appetite, have been found to be disrupted by lack of sleep.

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• Reduce Risk of Depression. Lack of sleep lowers our body’s serotonin level. People with serotonin deficiency are most likely to suffer from depression.

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• Repairs Your Body. Our cells produce more protein while we are sleeping. These protein molecules repair damage cells caused by stress, ultraviolet rays and other harmful exposures while we are sleeping.

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• Lowers Risk of Death. Rats normally live two to three years, but if rats are totally deprived from sleep, they only live for five weeks - based on laboratory experiments. They also developed sores, their body temperature dropped, and their immune systems went down. Scientists believed that this may have the same effect on sleep deprived humans.

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Recent studies on sleep have helped many of us understand the importance of sleep in our overall health and well-being. As advised by medical experts, eight (8) hours should be the ideal number of sleep-hours an average individual should consider every time hitting the sack.