This post is brought to you by our incredibly talented and insightful medical scribe, Mousa. When he isn’t helping us docs chart, he is found exercising and studying. He is an absolute fitness enthusiast, and we are honored to share his science of sleep with you.

Struggling to shed those extra pounds? Feeling overwhelmed with too much stress? SLEEP ON IT! Sleep is one of the most beneficial things we can do for our health. Sleep deprivation can alter our glucose metabolism and hormone regulation. Two very important hormones called Ghrelin and Leptin are often missed when looking into weight loss. Leptin is a protein produced by our fat cells and is a hormone that regulates our appetite and fat storage. Lack of sleep causes our body to have low levels of leptin which will tell our brain that our fat storages are low and we need to eat! Ghrelin on the other hand is also known as the hunger hormone, this is what causes those hunger pangs you feel after missing breakfast, not enough sleep causes this hormone to increase making us more susceptible to overeating.

 

One of the many ways sleep affects our brain is through memory and managing our stress is also directly correlated to our sleep. Sleep deprivation has been shown in clinical studies to fire up areas of the brain associated with emotional processing; this is because our prefrontal cortex becomes much less able to control how the amygdala processes anxiety. Our ability to consolidate and retain memory is impaired when we receive poor sleep and could even cause us to form false memories.

 

Sleep has clinically been shown to help strengthen our immune system. Have you noticed when you’re sick you tend to sleep all day? This is because our immune system releases certain cytokines which are increased when we have an infection or inflammation in the body, lack of sleep decreases this production in cytokines and antibodies and can give us a hard time fighting a common cold or healing properly.

 

Some great tips to ensure you receive a great night’s sleep are as simple as sleeping in a dark room with a cool temperature. Avoiding large meals 3-4 hours as well as any bright screen will also help us when getting ready for some restful deep sleep. The first place I like to start is making sure I go to bed around the same time every night and getting my recommended 6-8 hours!

 

Mousa Sobh

Medical Scribe

Biological Sciences Wayne State University

Medical School Applicant 2022

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