Sleep for immunity

This is the 3047th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

This year's Spring Festival is very different from previous years. People stay at home more and go out less. Although there is less festive joy, there is more peace of mind. Even so, in clinical practice, many patients who have colds or lack of energy due to staying up late or sleeping less are found to be cured by giving 3-5 Chinese medicine patches of the method of replenishing qi and strengthening the exterior, nourishing the heart and calming the mind.

Indeed, in daily life, everyone seems to have this perceptual understanding: poor sleep can easily lead to colds and illnesses. Sleep was originally a natural behavior, but now in the 21st century, sleep is believed to be regulated by the biological clock. Human scientific research has discovered sleep-promoting factors, and believes that sleep is a regulator of the immune system. The T cells, B cells, and NK cells of the immune system have biological clock changes, which lead to the production of messenger RNA and protein rhythms within a 24-hour cycle. Immunity is affected by circadian rhythms and sleep.

The Chinese Sleep Research Society proposed that the theme of this year's World Sleep Day on March 21 is: Good immunity comes from quality sleep, which is just in time. In clinical practice today, people often suffer from poor sleep and reduced immunity, and Chinese medicine has particular requirements for conditioning and care. Whether it is sleep or conditioning, in fact, there is nothing else, sleep and food are two important things. Nowadays, people have unreasonable work and rest schedules, coupled with bad living habits. They are busy working during the day and indulge in social activities or computer WeChat at night. The imbalance between excitement and inhibition leads to lack of sleep or insomnia. The simplest physiological needs have now become a major concern in people's lives. Through the test of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, we have deeply realized that sleep is a favorable weapon to improve immunity. Sleeping well will be more effective in fighting the epidemic.

At the same time, we must also pay attention to a reasonable diet. As the saying goes: Food is the first necessity of the people, and rice is good for nourishing people. Nowadays, some young people love fashion and slimness, lose weight, eat enzymes, change three meals a day to two meals a day, or do not eat after noon, and often practice fasting, which violates the physiological needs of the human body. As early as in the "Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic", it was recorded: "Five grains are for nourishment, five fruits are for assistance, five animals are for benefit, and five vegetables are for filling. Take them with harmonious flavors", and health is the way.

In the current global epidemic and mutation of the new coronavirus, we should pay more attention to the relationship between sleep and immunity. Studies have found that when pathogens invade the human immune system, through the human body's innate immunity and specific immune response, the body's immune cells are mobilized to secrete cytokines, bind to the corresponding receptor target cells, identify pathogens, and engulf and kill harmful viruses and bacteria. Sleep can regulate the cycle of human activity and rest, and plays an important role in the "work and rest" of the immune system. After sleep deprivation, the incidence of infection will increase.

Today, when the fight against the epidemic has become a normal practice, scientific management of sleep requires attention to sleep conditioning. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes dialectical conditioning and accurate treatment. People are different in height, weight, strength and weakness due to their different environments, and their constitutions are diverse, with cold and heat, yin and yang, and deficiency and excess. Furthermore, people are divided into old and young, male and female, sick and healthy, major and minor illnesses, with evil and without evil, etc., so prevention and treatment need to be classified. The classics say: When the righteousness is inside, evil cannot interfere. Use the Chinese medicine dialectical medicine tonic, choose food tonic with the same origin of medicine and food, and have a reasonable work and rest schedule, and cultivate your body and mind tonic, so that you can sleep out immunity and sleep out health.

Author: Xu Liang, Shanghai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Clinic hours: Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon (No. 274, Zhijiang Road, Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital)

Sunday morning every other week (Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic, No. 1, Lane 67, Shimen 1st Road)