Buzz
The repercussions of sleep deprivation on health are widely acknowledged, but the specific impacts may not be fully understood. Allow me to encapsulate some points from a talk by Professor Matt Walker of the University of California, Berkeley, delivered at TED Vancouver in 2019.- Lack of sleep diminishes the manhood of individuals who sleep less than 7 hours per night (some may glance down at this point :p);Sleep deprivation similarly affects women, so gentlemen, don't panic too much either.- Sleep deprivation causes a 10-year acceleration in the aging of men's testosterone levels;- A night of no sleep results in a 40% decrease in memory retention the following day, so all you night-studying folks take note for your exams tomorrow;- Losing just 1 hour of sleep on daylight saving time in summer (in countries observing daylight saving time in summer and autumn) increases the risk of heart attacks, car accidents, and suicides by 24%. Conversely, gaining 1 hour on daylight saving time in autumn reduces this risk by 21%;- Sleeping only 4 hours a night alone reduces NK cell activity by 70% (natural killer cells, the immune system's assassins targeting viruses, bacteria, mutated cells, and cancer);
Figure 2: WHO's warning on night shift work or shift work across time zones- Sleep deprivation reduces the activity of immune-related genes and increases the activity of genes related to cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases;
Figure 3: Sleeping 6 hours a night for a week alters genes towards reducing the activity of immune-related genes (in blue) and increasing genes related to cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular diseases (in yellow)Therefore, there are numerous studies assessing the impact of sleep on immune function in general, and the ability to prevent Covid-19 in particular. You can explore more on this.Professor Tran Van Hieu
Biomedical Research Group GMIF, University of Science Ho Chi Minh City.
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