Your Body Repairs Itself While You Sleep
During sleep, your body is busy
- Repairing tissues
- Fighting off infections
- Forming memories of experiences that occurred during the day
If you do not get adequate sleep, you could experience health effects such as:
- Disruption of insulin/blood glucose system, promoting insulin resistance
- Increased appetite, resulting in overeating and weight gain
- Impaired mental functioning
Sleep loss can also weaken the immune system by:
- Reducing the proper function of cells that attack cancer cells and viruses
- Increasing the inflammatory response, which increases the risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders such as diabetes
- Reducing production of antibodies, thereby increasing the risk for infection
