Most people think that consuming too much high-cholesterol food will raise bad cholesterol levels in their body. This is a dietary myth. Eating foods high in dietary cholesterol and saturated fats does not raise bad cholesterol to harmful levels. The concern with high cholesterol levels in the body is that it can harm heart health and clogs arteries, increasing the risk for heart attacks and heart disease. The medical term for this is atherosclerosis, a disease in which plaque builds up inside the arteries.
Dietary cholesterol is a hotly debated topic in the nutritional world but food isn’t the whole picture. Did you know your body naturally produces good cholesterol, which is also protective to heart health? This good cholesterol, which is called HDL lipoproteins, balances the effects of bad cholesterol in the body. Good cholesterol has been linked to a decreased risk of atherosclerosis.
Having lowered levels of HDL cholesterol is just as harmful to health as having elevated levels of bad cholesterol in the body.
What many people don’t realize is that factors other than food can influence the balance of good and bad cholesterol in the body. Sleep deprivation can cause a shift in cholesterol levels, lowering the amount of the good, protective kind of cholesterol. The latest research on this topic, published in Scientific Report, studies how sleep deprivation impacts cholesterol levels in the body.
According the study’s authors, just one week of sleep deprivation can also change the body’s metabolism and immune response.
There have been other studies that have linked heart health issues to lack of sleep. A 2013 study found that sleep deprivation hurts vascular function and blood vessel health. Other studies have linked sleep deprivation to numerous health issues such as obesity, weight gain, diabetes, memory loss, mood issues and Alzheimer’s disease.
The latest study delves into how and why this happens. The study suggests that sleep deprivation can impair the way the body metabolizes cholesterol.
Study researchers conducted an experiment as well as analyzed data sets from two other experiments. The first experiment involved depriving participants of sleep for a week under controlled laboratory conditions. The second and third data sets were from DILGOM (Dietary, Lifestyle, and Genetic determinants of Obesity and Metabolic syndrome) and Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.
After analyzing these data sets, the researchers concluded that the genes involved in regulating cholesterol transport are impaired in sleep-deprived people when compared to those who get enough sleep. In addition, they found that sleep-deprived people had lower levels of HDL lipoproteins. Because sleep deprivation lowers HDL levels, it removes some of its protective powers against blood vessel plaque buildup and potential heart problems.
The study researchers found it interesting that factors such as sleep can contribute to heart health, inflammatory reactions and changes to cholesterol metabolism. “The experimental study proved that just one week of insufficient sleep begins to change the body’s immune response and metabolism. Our next goal is to determine how minor the sleep deficiency can be while still causing such changes.”
One of the keys of getting good sleep is balancing blood sugar levels. Balanced blood sugar reduces cortisol production, which is an added stress on the body. The 21-Day Body Makeover can help stabilize blood sugar levels with a healthy balance of carbs, fiber, fats and protein. It can also detox the liver, which will help produce deeper and more restful sleep. It’s important to look at factors other than food for good health. But food is still the foundation to managing healthy sleep, elimination and blood sugar levels.
