Here’s another reason not to pull an all-nighter.
New research out of Kuwait reports that staying awake for 24 consecutive hours can change the behavior of immune cells in young, healthy and lean people — they end up resembling immune cells found in people with obesity.
“Our findings underscore a growing public health challenge,” said Fatema Al-Rashed of the Dasman Diabetes Institute in Kuwait City.
“Advancements in technology, prolonged screen time and shifting societal norms are increasingly disruptive to regular sleeping hours,” she continued. “This disruption in sleep has profound implications for immune health and overall well-being.”
Experts generally recommend adults sleep seven to nine hours a night to stay healthy and help the body fight infections.
Insomnia has been linked to chronic conditions like Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, often fueled by persistent inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is when the body’s immune system keeps reacting to illness or injury even after the threat has passed.
Al-Rashed’s team wanted to evaluate the influence of sleep on circulating immune cells.
Non-classical monocytes, for one, patrol blood vessels for potential threats and remove damaged cells, debris and pathogens to help maintain the body’s immune response.
Researchers studied the sleep patterns of 237 healthy adults of various body types and analyzed their blood to learn about their monocyte levels and markers of inflammation.
Obese participants had significantly worse sleep, higher levels of chronic low-grade inflammation and more non-classical monocytes compared to their thinner counterparts.
Five of the lean participants went on to complete a 24-hour sleep deprivation challenge, with researchers finding that the lack of sleep altered the profile of their monocytes to what was seen in their obese peers.
The researchers suggest that sleep deprivation may exacerbate the inflammatory state associated with obesity by increasing non-classical monocytes, which are known to play a role in inflammation.
The findings were published Monday in the Journal of Immunology.
Al-Rashed wants to further explore the effect of sleep deprivation on immune cells and determine if behavioral modifications can reverse these changes.
“We envision workplace reforms and educational campaigns promoting better sleep practices, particularly for populations at risk of sleep disruption due to technological and occupational demands,” she said.
“Ultimately, this could help mitigate the burden of inflammatory diseases like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.”
In the meantime, you should avoid staying up all night.
If you’re struggling to sleep, you may want to try breathing exercises, visualization, mental tricks, noise cancellation or certain supplements.
