Sleep Trackers Could Be the Window Into Your Health

Sleep Trackers Could Be the Window Into Your Health

Due to their usability, low cost and widespread availability, sleep tracking devices are becoming more popular for researchers to use as tools for investigating the connections between sleep, circadian rhythms, and health. Consumer sleep trackers offer scientists the chance to generate information outside of the laboratory, in more natural home environments.

Tampa Bay Holistic Wellness’s Dr. Dawn Molina, DAOM, LAc. joined Gayle Guyardo of WFLA Tampa Bay and the host of the nationally syndicated health and wellness show Bloom on September 26th, 2022 to share why these devices could be considered a window into your overall health.

What You and Your Primary Care Physician Should Know About Good Quality Sleep

1. Immunity: Getting good quality sleep boosts the number of antibodies and cells that fight infections. Being consistently sleep deprived can make someone more susceptible to getting sick when exposed to a virus, and it may take longer to recover from sickness.

2. Weight Management: A lack of sleep causes the hormones that influence hunger to over secrete and the hormones that influence satiation to under produce. People that are unrested are more likely to over-eat, which contributes to weight gain and obesity. Lack of sleep may also cause insulin resistance the day following an unrestful sleep cycle.

3. Heart Health: Getting good quality sleep can reduce the risk of heart diseases. During deep sleep heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, and breathing stabilizes: this reduces the stress on the heart allowing it to recover from daily strain.

4. Reduce the Risk of Neurological Diseases: During deep sleep the body flushes cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) through the brain, which cleans out toxic proteins that build up in the brain. Excess build up of these toxic proteins increases the risk of chronic neurological diseases like, dementia and Alzheimer's Disease later in life.

5. Manage Stress Better: Cortisol levels (stress hormone) typically drop to their lowest production around midnight. Not getting enough sleep means the body isn’t given enough time to reduce cortisol production. This results in elevated cortisol levels, which can impact the ability to respond to stress when we need it. Long-term elevated cortisol levels can contribute to other hormonal imbalances; e.g when cortisol levels increase, progesterone levels decrease. Elevated cortisol levels also suppress the body’s use of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, increasing the risk of metabolic diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity.

6. Enhance Memory & Cognition: Research shows that good quality sleep enhances learning, long-term memory, short-term memory, and focus. Sleep deprivation makes it difficult to focus attention and to retain new information. Scientists have also found that sleep itself plays a role in memory consolidation, which is essential for learning and retaining new information.

Articles and Research

Early evening light mitigates sleep compromising physiological and alerting responses to subsequent late evening light (Scientific Reports)

Recommendations for daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults (PLOS Biology)

Meal Timing Regulates the Human Circadian System (Current Biology)

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