How sleep affects your fascia – and much more
I’ve been having some issues with sleep lately. Several friends have said the same thing. Not sure if it’s the crazy weather changes. Or maybe the Martians are mad at us for invading their planet. However, I did find some very interesting research about how sleep affects the fascia in the body.
Researchers have identified many benefits of getting a good night’s sleep over the years. It benefits the brain and our mental health, the heart and other internal organs, the muscles, and much more. All of us have probably experienced tightness in our muscles, along with fatigue, lack of coordination, and brain fog when we don’t get good sleep.
It’s interesting to now see that getting a good night’s sleep can affect our fascia, too. Of course, how much sleep is a “good night’s sleep” is debatable. Most experts say that the optimal amount of sleep is about 7 to 8 hours a night. But everyone is different. Some people thrive on less. Some people absolutely have to have more. A large percentage of the population doesn’t get anywhere close to the optimal amount.
The affect of sleep on fascia
I’ve known for many years how important good, consistent sleep is for the body and the mind. But getting it isn’t always the easiest thing for a lot of people. The multi-billion dollar sleeping pill industry is very profitable indeed!
Usually, I am able to get to sleep within 10 to 15 minutes after going to bed. However, sometimes the mind goes on overdrive. Sometimes, I’ve eaten too much to be comfortable. Sometimes, I’ve looked at my phone or computer too long.
But I am making an extra effort to get more consistently good sleep now. Why? Because research has shown that good sleep actually helps the body to regenerate fascial tissue every night!
If you’ve been in one of my Direct-Indirect Technique or Cranial-Sacral Therapy classes, you know that I emphasize many important features of fascia and why it’s vital that we keep our fascia healthy, strong, and supple. It is an essential component of our bodies!
One major way to keep your fascia healthy is by getting good sleep. Some recently published research drives this message home. Here is a description of this research from ScienceDaily:
Biologists from The University of Manchester have explained for the first time why having a good night’s sleep really could prepare us for the rigours of the day ahead.
“The study in mice and published in Nature Cell Biology, shows how the body clock mechanism boosts our ability to maintain our bodies when we are most active.
And because we know the body clock is less precise as we age, the discovery, argues lead author Professor Karl Kadler, may one day help unlock some of the mysteries of aging.
The discovery throws fascinating light on the body’s extracellular matrix -which provides structural and biochemical support to cells in the form of connective tissue such as bone, skin, tendon and cartilage.
Over half our body weight is matrix, and half of this is collagen — and scientists have long understood it is fully formed by the time we reach the age of 17.
But now the researchers have discovered there are two types of fibrils — the rope-like structures of collagen that are woven by the cells to form tissues.
Thicker fibrils measuring about 200 nanometres in diameter — a million million times smaller than a pinhead — are permanent and stay with us throughout our lives, unchanged from the age of 17.
But thinner fibrils measuring 50 nanometres, they find, are sacrificial, breaking as we subject the body to the rigours of the day but replenishing when we rest at night.
The collagen was observed by mass spectrometry and the mouse fibrils were observed using state of the art volumetric electron microscopy — funded by the Wellcome Trust — every 4 hours over 2 days.
When the body clock genes were knocked out in mice, the thin and thick fibrils were amalgamated randomly.
Collagen matters
“Collagen provides the body with structure and is our most abundant protein, ensuring the integrity, elasticity and strength of the body’s connective tissue,” said Professor Kadler
“It’s intuitive to think our matrix should be worn down by wear and tear, but it isn’t and now we know why: our body clock makes an element which is sacrificial and can be replenished, protecting the permanent parts of the matrix.”
He added: “So if you imagine the bricks in the walls of a room as the permanent part, the paint on the walls could be seen as the sacrificial part which needs to be replenished every so often.
And just like you need to oil a car and keep its radiator topped up with water, these thin fibrils help maintain the body’s matrix.
Knowing this could have implications on understanding our biology at its most fundamental level. It might, for example, give us some deeper insight into how wounds heal, or how we age.” ”
So, the moral of the story is – get some good sleep! Every night! For the sake of your fascia…and much more.
This research study was initially published in Nature Cell Biology here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-019-0441-z?fbclid=IwAR3hFv0rGmAIcaRFvat5NMsozK_0oYj8xwc3Q50QtZnsZciztehL-jR6Yo8
It is also referenced here at the University of Manchester website:
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/beauty-sleep-could-be-real-say-body-clock-biologists/?fbclid=IwAR1MHxfQ2LYBosAEgVX4NgxEB3GlMUFsAzCAlA4dr92gmbVOgTZbnn2JVbg
If you want to register for Ray of Light Training online courses, use this link to get more information, start watching the course videos, and earn your CEUs:
https://roltraining.com/product-category/courses/
Stay well,
John Joseph Ray
Ray of Light Training
John J. Ray is a Board Approved Continuing Education Provider through the NCBTMB
Member of the Fascia Research Society