Should You Sleep All Day When Sick?

Feeling sleepy when you're sick is your body's way of telling you to slow down and rest. Sleep is essential for recovery as it helps boost your immune system. When you're asleep, your body releases cytokines, a type of protein that targets infections. Your body also has a better fever response when you're sleeping, which is another way it fights infection. Getting enough sleep when you're sick is important, and it's recommended that you add an extra hour of sleep a night to your usual sleep times, along with a couple of naps during the day.

Sleep is medicine for the immune system

Sleep is like medicine for the immune system. When you're feeling under the weather, your body is telling you to slow down and rest. This feeling of tiredness and sluggishness is an adaptation called "sickness behaviour", which forces you to slow down and give your body the time it needs to heal.

There are several reasons why sleep is so important for recovery:

Sleep Restores Energy

When you're sick, your body uses a lot of energy to fight off the infection. Sleep allows your body to replenish its energy sources, which is essential for recovery.

Sleep Helps the Body Fight Infection

During sleep, the body releases proteins called cytokines, which are a type of protein in your immune system that targets infections. Cytokines are produced and released during sleep, helping to jump-start your immune response to illness.

Sleep Enhances the Body's Fever Response

The body's fever response is one way it fights infection. Sleep enhances this response, helping to speed up recovery.

Sleep Allows the Body to Repair Itself

Sleep gives your body time to repair damaged tissues and respond to cellular stress. This is an important part of the recovery process.

Sleep Keeps You Safe

If you're not sleeping or resting, you're likely to be exposed to more viruses and bacteria, which could make your illness worse. Staying in bed when you're sick helps to prevent you from catching more severe illnesses.

Sleep is Necessary for the Functioning of Certain Immune Cells

Research has shown that even modest amounts of sleep loss can cause a significant drop in the activity of natural killer cells, a type of immune cell that attacks tumour cells and cells invaded by viruses. Getting enough sleep ensures that these cells can function optimally.

So, if you're feeling sick, don't feel guilty about spending the day in bed. Your body needs that sleep to recover!

Sleep helps the body fight pathogens

Cytokines are proteins that are released during sleep, and they play a crucial role in jump-starting the immune response to illness. They communicate with cells in the immune system to help fight off pathogens. Interestingly, some cytokines also promote sleep, creating a positive feedback loop where giving in to fatigue helps the body produce more cytokines to fast-track recovery.

Another way sleep helps fight pathogens is by improving the functioning of T cells, a type of white blood cell critical to the body's immune response. T cells recognise and kill virus-infected cells. Sleep enhances the ability of T cells to stick to and destroy these infected cells. This is because stress hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, which inhibit T cell function, are reduced during sleep.

In addition, slow-wave sleep and the circadian rhythm induce hormonal changes that help send T cells to the lymph nodes and stimulate an immune response against pathogens. Sleep may also be important for the functioning of natural killer cells, another type of immune cell that can attack tumour cells and cells invaded by viruses.

Overall, sleep is like medicine for the immune system, and it is essential for recovery from illness. It allows the body to channel its resources towards breaking a fever, fighting pathogens, and recovering from infection.

Sleep is essential for recovery

Sleep is an essential part of recovery when you're feeling unwell. It's your body's way of telling you to slow down and rest, so you can get healthy. When you're sick, your body is using a lot of energy to fight off the infection, leaving you feeling tired and lacking in energy.

Benefits of sleep when you're sick

Most of the benefits of sleep when you're unwell are related to boosting your immune system so you can fight off illness. Here are some of the ways sleep helps your body to recover:

• Sleep helps to jump-start your immune response to illness. Cytokines, a type of protein in your immune system that targets infections, are produced and released during sleep.
• Your body has a better fever response when you're asleep. Fever is your body's way of fighting viruses and infections.
• When you're awake, your body needs to direct energy to activities like thinking or moving around. When you're asleep, your body can redirect that energy to your immune system, so you get better faster.
• Being tired makes you less likely to go out and infect others.
• Sleep gives your body time to repair itself, which is essential when you're sick.

If you're sleeping a lot when you're sick, it's because your body needs the rest. Sleeping more than usual helps your body build up its immune system and fight off illness. If you find yourself sleeping all day when you're sick, don't worry, as long as you wake up to drink water and eat nourishing food. However, if your illness doesn't improve with rest, be sure to consult a doctor.

Tips for getting quality sleep when you're sick

• Sleep with your head propped up to help your nasal passages drain and reduce pressure in your head.
• Avoid cold medications that may keep you awake before bed, and opt for a cold medicine made for nighttime instead.
• Take a hot shower or bath before bed to relax and break up mucus so you can breathe more easily.
• Use a humidifier in your bedroom to prevent stuffy, congested airways.
• Drink chamomile tea to help you relax and feel sleepy, adding lemon or honey to soothe your throat.
• Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet.
• If you can't get enough sleep at night, try taking a 30-minute nap during the day.

Sleep is important for regulating immune cell proliferation

Sleep also has an impact on the cells the body uses to fight off viruses, which could impact how well you recover from a sickness. Results of a 2019 study suggest that sleep helps T cells (a type of white blood cell) more easily stick to infected cells and destroy them. What’s more, slow-wave sleep and the circadian rhythm induce hormonal changes that help send T cells to the lymph nodes and stimulate an immune response against a pathogen.

Keeping your head propped up while sleeping may also be important for the functioning of natural killer cells, another type of immune cell that can attack tumour cells, as well as cells that have been invaded by a virus. Research shows that even modest amounts of sleep loss cause natural killer cell activity to drop significantly.

Additionally, sleep loss is associated with a higher risk for infection. Restricting sleep to 4 hours per night for 6 days, followed by sleep for 12 hours per night for 7 days, resulted in a greater than 50% decrease in production of antibodies to influenza vaccination, in comparison with subjects who had regular sleep hours.

Sleep helps to prevent dehydration

When you're feeling under the weather, it's normal to feel tired and lethargic. Sleeping is essential when you're sick, as it's your body's way of telling you to slow down and rest.

During sleep, your brain releases a hormone called vasopressin, which helps your body retain water. This is one of the many processes involved in the sleep-wake cycle. Dehydration can impact this cycle and the overall duration of sleep.

Additionally, drinking water before bed may help to induce sleepiness by aiding in attaining the drop in core body temperature that promotes sleep.

So, while it's important to stay hydrated, especially when sick, drinking excessive amounts of water right before bed may disrupt your sleep due to the need for frequent urination. Aim to stay hydrated throughout the day and limit fluid intake closer to bedtime.

Frequently asked questions