The Nightly Battle: Inflammation, Sleep Loss, and Your Arteries

A nightly battle is being waged inside your arteries, and the outcome is heavily influenced by how well you sleep. The conflict is between your body’s natural healing processes and the damaging forces of inflammation. When you suffer from sleep loss, you give inflammation a powerful advantage, with potentially dire consequences for your heart.
Your body’s defense forces, which work to repair blood vessels and keep them flexible, are most effective during the deep stages of sleep. This is when anti-inflammatory processes are at their peak. A full night’s rest allows these forces to patrol your arteries, mend daily wear and tear, and keep the vessel linings smooth.
However, sleep deprivation arms the enemy. It triggers the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which act like tiny aggressors, attacking the delicate lining of your arteries. This assault creates damage and roughness, which become footholds for cholesterol and other substances to accumulate, forming dangerous plaques.
Over time, if inflammation consistently wins this nightly battle due to chronic poor sleep, your arteries will narrow and harden (atherosclerosis). This restricts blood flow and dramatically increases your risk of a heart attack. To give your body the best chance of winning this fight, you must provide it with its most powerful weapon: consistent, restorative sleep.