Table of Contents
Amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic across the world, everyone is scrambling for ways to stay safe. The most recommended solution is to stay at home. This comes with more opportunities to sleep which plays a significant role in enhancing the immune system. A good night’s sleep significantly improves immunity for the body to naturally fight viruses and disease. Although there is currently no cure for coronavirus, good immunity keeps you safe.
How your immune system works
The body naturally fights infection using the immune system. This identifies germs and pathogens and eliminates them from the body including bacteria, parasites, viruses, and fungi. The immune system spots and neutralizes harmful external substances. It also combats significant body changes including cancer cells.
On the detection of antigens, toxins, or other foreign substances, the immune system is activated. It triggers the immune system to respond by developing antibodies and cells to fight the invaders. Afterward, the immune system memorizes the incident to allow fighting off the same issue in the future.
How to get quality sleep
Before digging deeper into how sleep enhances immunity, you have to understand the best way to have quality sleep. Staying at home 24/7 during the lockdown means having more opportunities to sleep. This wears out an old mattress. So, it is a good idea to buy bed mattress in Singapore made with 100 percent latex. With this, you will enjoy restful sleep after a hard day juggling work, family, and other tasks. The right mattress and size of your mattress make all the difference.
Sleep and your immunity
Quality sleep is necessary for an efficient immune system. Sleep allows the immune system to assess any threats, rebuild, and to rest. The immune system detects potential threats and directs antigens to fight them off. Not having enough sleep inhibits your body’s immune system from implementing the best remedies to fight illness. Read on to understand how sleep enhances immunity.
Boosts production of T cells
Having a good night’s sleep fosters the production of T cells. These cells are from bone marrow but mature in the thymus gland. The T cells are vital in the response towards viruses by the immune system. These cells activate immune cells to fight infection and cancer cells. Quality sleep enhances the production of T cells to boost your immunity. Keep in mind that you need strong immunity to survive the coronavirus pandemic.
Improves response of the immune system to threats
Getting quality sleep significantly enhances the ability of your immune system to respond to threats. The completion of four sleep cycles encourages the production and release of cytokine. This is a multifaceted protein to trigger a quicker response of the immune system to antigens. Cytokines promote communication between cells and direct these cells towards infections to fix the issue.
The cytokine proteins boost the immune system on how to fight infections from viruses.The inability to enjoy quality sleep makes work of these proteins harder. The body needs full rest throughout the night to replenish cells and proteins that fight disease. Poor sleep quality inhibits the production of cytokine making it harder for the body to fight viruses like COVID-19.
Fights colds
When suffering from a cold, plenty of sleep is highly recommended. Sleep is a wonderful remedy to prevent and beat colds. Poor sleep significantly determines whether you get sick on exposure to the cold virus according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
The research discovered that poor sleep makes you prone to getting sick regardless of income, race, age, habits, and stress level. So, getting good sleep through the lockdown lessens your chances of catching the coronavirus.
Other essential tips to avoid coronavirus infection
There is currently no cure for coronavirus. some guidelines have been put forward by the Center for Disease Control to curb potential infection including:
- Washing your hands using soap and water
- Using sanitizer to clean your hands more often
- Avoiding close contact with sick people
- Maintaining social distancing when not feeling well
- Cleaning and disinfecting frequently used objects
- Using tissues when coughing or sneezing, and throwing them away immediately
How you are likely to lose sleep during the COVID-19 outbreak
With everyone spending each waking moment checking their screens for the latest updates about coronavirus, blue light from the screens inhibits melatonin production. With limited sleep hormones, you are likely to find trouble sleeping. Information overload and elevated stress are likely to trigger insomnia.
Other factors that might disturb your nighttime sleep include loss of daytime structure leading to inconsistent bedtime and wake time routine. This shifts the urge to sleep making falling asleep unpredictable. With a depressed mood, you are likely to experience more downtime with low energy leading to long naps and poor sleep at night.
Bottom line
Getting enough quality sleep significantly boosts the immune system. This helps lessen the risk of infection and offers good outcomes for anyone fighting virus symptoms. Sleeping on the right mattress helps you sleep better is a wonderful way to boost sleep quality.
