Reducing sleep even by one hour reduces the body’s resistance to infections. On March 17, Izvestia was told about this by a somnologist, head of the department of sleep medicine at the Sechenov University of the Russian Ministry of Health, Mikhail Poluektov.
“There is fairly convincing evidence that limiting sleep time has a bad effect on immunity. There are many studies on this subject that have shown that with a reduction in sleep time even by one hour from the recommended one, resistance to viral infections decreases, ”he said.
The doctor indicated that for an adult, the recommended sleep time is 7-9 hours, while everyone has their own norm.
Poluektov also said that a promising direction in medicine is the study of the glymphatic system of the brain, which is responsible for removing harmful substances from nerve cells.
“If we learn how to manage this system, then we can prevent or slow down the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Now a lot of research is being carried out in this direction, and sleep specialists are directly related to them, because it turned out that toxins are best removed from brain cells just in the state of sleep, ”the expert said.
Currently, scientists are working to study the mechanism of this effect, trying to find out what leads to an acceleration of excretion. For this, devices are being developed to artificially stimulate this process.
Poluektov noted that in order to improve the quality of sleep, it is recommended to accustom your body to go to bed and wake up at about the same time, provide a transitional period of one or two hours from active wakefulness to sleep, and best provide an environment in a place for this, removing from it objects that excite the psyche.
Earlier, on March 6, nutritionist, nutritionist Irina Pisareva listed the vitamins needed to support immunity in the spring. She noted that spring is the off-season period, when many chronic diseases are most often exacerbated. Due to the lack of certain vitamins, immunity decreases. First of all, we are talking about vitamins D and C, the lack of which is usually felt in winter.
