Sleep Deprivation
When I was a young doctor we used to work absurdly long hours: for more than three years I worked every other night and every other weekend. It was not uncommon to be on your feet for three at a time. It is a wonder that we didn’t die or make more mistakes.
We know that sleep deprivation is not healthy, but we are only now beginning to find out just how damaging it can be. One of the biggest problems is that sleep deprivation interferes with the normal functioning of the immune system.
I saw an interesting paper (NR619) at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Diego last month.
A team from Korea took sixteen healthy volunteers and made them stay awake for 48 hours. They found that even this relatively short period of sleep deprivation produced some impressive effects on the body and the mind:
- Thyroid hormone levels rose
- The speed and accuracy of reaction times fell
- Blood glucose and protein levels rose, and there were disturbances in several liver function tests
- White blood counts increased
- There was a slight fall in immunoglobulin levels
We already know that insufficient sleep is associated with insulin resistance and weight gain, and it is likely that these are mediated by a rise in inflammatory mediators in the blood.
It is remarkable how quickly the effects occur.
And how pleased I am that young doctors no longer have to tolerate those incredibly long shifts.
Some things have changed for the better!
Dr. Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned authority on the brain, and his revolutionary work on human energy systems has been acclaimed around the globe.
He is also an accredited specialist in internal and metabolic medicine, endocrinology, psychiatry, acupuncture and homeopathy. He has been an innovator and leader of the human potential movement for over thirty years and is also an active researcher, teacher, writer, professional speaker and broadcaster. He is the author of five books, including the groundbreaking and best selling CD series Healing, Meaning and Purpose. He has taught in over 45 countries and 48 states in the last ten years, but spends as much time as possible on his horse farm in Georgia.
