Chronic insomnia effects on the skin health: Formation of collagen
The reason why the formation of collagen is very important in human life is because it’s one of the skin’s primary components which play a major role in its structure and integrity and healthy elasticity and youthful appearance. Doctor Dalal Akoury MD and also the founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center reiterates that sleep deficit (Chronic insomnia) can affect the optimal process of the skin’s collagen formation. She adds that one of the crucial function of the skin is to maintain a barrier that prevents excessive water loss and blocks entry of toxic foreign substances. The cascade of events that occurs during the process of collagen formation is highly dependent on immune synchronization that is initiated during restful nights of sleep.
Chronic insomnia effects on the skin health: Insidious link between sleep debt and skin aging
Numerous studies have established that stress-induced insomnia can dramatically impair skin function and precipitate numerous skin disorders. Sleep researchers have found that animals subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation develop ulcerous lesions on their legs and suffer increased risk of bacterial invasion through the skin owing to a breakdown in skin membrane integrity.
In humans, sleep debt and stress have been definitively linked to skin disorders so much so that an entire sub-specialty of dermatology has developed over the past two decades called psycho-dermatology. It emerged after an abundance of published studies revealed that many skin conditions respond well to antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, in addition to traditional dermatologic interventions.
Scientists attribute the link between chronic insomnia and skin disorders to the immune-modulatory or immune-altering effects induced by the release of excess glucocorticoids triggered by sleep debt and stress. As the name suggests, this class of hormones regulates the metabolism of glucose. Every cell in the human body possesses receptors for glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids also happen to play a central role in immune function. (Cortisol is the most important of the glucocorticoids.) Excess glucocorticoid production has been shown to negatively affect nearly every tissue in the body and accelerate the aging process.
In terms of skin health, the sequence of events involved in the formation of collagen is highly dependent on the immune-balancing processes initiated during restful nights of sleep. As the major structural component of your skin and other bodily tissues, collagen protects against UV damage and bacterial infection, maintains your skin’s elasticity, seals in moisture, and preserves its youthful, healthy appearance.
This nighttime balancing process is disrupted in the presence of excess glucocorticoids (cortisol in particular). Sleeplessness ultimately has a cumulative immunosuppressant effect. Of particular significance for skin health are reduced levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) observed in insomnia sufferers. At healthy levels, this protein triggers increased white blood cell production in response to foreign invaders and plays a central role in the production of collagen. Therefore when levels of IL-1 are too low, collagen formation deteriorates. This is how chronic insomnia can cause skin disorders related to immune dysfunction. In addition to inducing such inflammatory skin conditions as eczema and psoriasis, sleep deprivation has been shown to aggravate both allergic and irritant contact dermatitis.
Finally learning from this article and even others posted on this link will only be meaningful to you if you make another step of practicing what you are learning. Remember that how chronic insomnia destroys skin health can be very wide and elaborate. You must not allow these worthy pieces of information about protecting your skin go in vain. Get the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center involved in every step you take. This way doctor Akoury and her team of experts will help you revamp the beauty of your skin giving it a new lease of life for a very long time.
Chronic insomnia effects on the skin health: Formation of collagen
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