Unlock Your Sleep Potential: How Quality Rest Can Add Years to Your Life

The elusive Fountain of Youth might be closer than you think. For millennia, this mythological body of water promised a prolonged lifespan that never ended. Turns out the key to lengthened longevity if not ageless immortality is getting sufficient sleep. Consistent quality sleep can help you feel better inside and out. Inadequate sleep has been linked to everything from cardiovascular disease and cancer to type 2 diabetes. These chronic conditions are a big reason that the average American life expectancy is not increasing as rapidly as it once did. 

Achieving a solid night’s sleep requires planning. A consistent bedtime is key as is maintaining a space designed to deliver quality sleep. Read on to learn how to unlock your sleep potential and why getting adequate rest is crucial for longevity.

The Science of Sleep

Although legend holds that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon was searching for a mystical body of water that “turned old men to boys,” there’s no evidence that this was part of his quest. Although he discovered the Gulf Stream (which accelerated his return trip to Spain) and gave Florida its name, “What Ponce is really looking for is islands that will become part of what he hopes will be a profitable new governorship,” J. Michael Francis, a history professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg told history.com. 

Still, the belief that something possesses magical, youth-enhancing properties and can offer a prolonged lifespan has endured. There isn’t a pill, liquid or other reliable shortcut to reverse aging. However, sleep comes pretty close. It’s a familiar, daily activity yet many people ignore its value. The cliche statement, “That I’ll sleep when I’m dead” has a grim ring of truth. That’s because longevity research has shown that consistently inadequate sleep can shorten lifespans and cultivate a host of debilitating chronic conditions. In fact quality, consistent sleep can actually nurture healthy aging and lengthen longevity. 

Imagine your body sporting a sign that says, “Closed for Repairs.” That’s sleep. Researchers have discovered that during slumber the brain functions more like the kidneys, flushing toxins from your system. Among the products it removes is a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Your organs repair themselves on a cellular level – including the heart and lungs. Interrupted or abbreviated sleep interferes with this process. During sleep the body engages in a number of vital, restorative functions, including tissue repair, protein synthesis and muscle growth. Because many of these functions don’t occur as frequently when we are awake, if we don’t devote sufficient time to sleep then they will be circumvented.

No one knows exactly why we sleep. What we do know is mere moments after falling asleep our core body temperature drops even as respiration, heart rate, and brain activity slows down. The body needs fewer calories than it requires during the day. During a single night’s sleep, the body moves through multiple sleep stages lasting from a little over an hour to two hours. These stages include one of rapid eye movement (REM) and three non-rapid eye movement stages. It is during REM that our dreams are most vivid. Not moving through these stages or having only a couple sleep stages at night can leave you feeling exhausted all the time. 

Sleep is also an important metabolism regulator. It also affects the timing of hormone releases. For example, two hormones are affected by a single poor night’s sleep. Ghrelin is a hunger-stimulating hormone while leptin tells us when we are full. Following a poor night’s sleep, ghrelin production is increased while leptin production is suppressed. This has the effect of making us hungry no matter how much we eat. Those aren’t the only hormones affected by inadequate sleep. The hormone insulin regulates sugar levels in the blood. Lack of sleep reduces insulin’s efficacy or as Dr. Ann E. Rogers explained to Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, “Not getting enough sleep alters insulin resistance, which is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and that can be very quickly induced by a single night’s total sleep loss.”

Hormonal imbalances can also affect your sleep. That’s why testing is so important. Because insomnia or constant fatigue can be caused by a variety of conditions, it’s vital to get the most accurate information available. Instead of waiting for a doctor’s appointment, Kyla offers an at-home hormone test that delivers results in days. By downloading the Kyla app, you’ll soon be able to check your hormone levels and get on the path toward healthy aging and restorative sleep. 

After downloading the Kyla app, you’ll be asked a few simple questions. This helps the app formulate a risk analysis that includes your projected life expectancy. The app offers the option to order an at-home Hormone & Vitamin Panel from Kyla. You can also order it online. Just complete an easy two-minute, online health quiz and select the best test for you.

Some home-testing companies charge hundreds of dollars for a hormone test. Kyla’s comprehensive tests cost just $99 – which may be covered by your insurance. You’ll receive the kit a few days after ordering. Follow the simple instructions for sample collection and return it to our labs postage-free. You’ll soon receive the results which will not only reveal whether or not you have a hormone imbalance but also the current state of your heart, kidney, and liver health. Along with hormone levels, you’ll learn about your blood sugar and cholesterol levels. You’ll also discover if you have deficiencies in vitamin D, B9, or B12. 

Longevity and Sleep

“Healthy sleep encompasses three major things,” explains Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at NIH. “One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleep quality—that you get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule.”

What this means is going to bed and awakening at the same time — even on the weekends. Making sleep a priority means reducing caffeine several hours before slumber, along with alcohol and products containing nicotine. Just as consistent bedtimes helps sleep quality, so does reducing blue light just prior to slumber. Keeping your sleep space cool and dark is also vital. Healthy diet and moderate exercise earlier in the day can also improve slumber. 

It’s easy to overlook sleep in favor of other activities. Many people view sleep as uniquely wasteful. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because of the way lack of sleep triggers hormones, people who are tired all the time tend to be hungrier and more irritable. This is one reason lack of sleep is the cause of obesity and stress, including excessive cortisol production. In fact those who don’t get enough sleep have more belly fat than those who do. Sleep has been linked to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Lack of sleep also affects immunity and increases your risk of getting the common cold. Beyond increased disease risk, insufficient sleep reduces your ability to remember and form complex thoughts during the day.

Recent longevity research has shown a clean connection between consistently inadequate sleep and shortened lifespans. In one study of some 172,000 adults, the men who get sufficient sleep outlived those who didn’t by five years. Well-rested women outlived those who were suffering from constant fatigue by around two years.  

Longevity research presented at the American College of Cardiology found that participants who had beneficial sleep habits lived longer than those who didn’t. The study data showed that eight percent of deaths from any cause could be attributed to poor sleep patterns. What the study described as “beneficial sleep habits” offers guidelines for anyone who wants healthy sleep. These included a sleep duration of seven-to-eight hours a night with serious difficulty falling asleep no more than two times a week along with trouble staying asleep no more than two times a week. No using any sleep medication and feeling well-rested after waking up at least five days a week. 

“If people have all these ideal sleep behaviors, they are more likely to live longer,” explained Frank Qian, MD, an internal medicine resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess. “So, if we can improve sleep overall, and identifying sleep disorders is especially important, we may be able to prevent some of this premature mortality.” 

Kyla believes in supporting people’s quest for a holistic Fountain of Youth, a wellspring of quality sleep, healthy diet, and daily, moderate exercise. It’s also important to be on the lookout for any conditions that can reduce longevity. If you want to reverse aging, download the Kyla App today and get a good night’s sleep so you can lengthen your longevity.

Sources:

1. “Sleep and Health,” Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. October 1, 2021. https://sleep.hms.harvard.edu/education-training/public-education/sleep-and-health-education-program/sleep-health-education-86
2. “Good Sleep for Good Health: Get the Rest You Need,” News in Health (NIH). April 2021. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2021/04/good-sleep-good-health
3. “About Sleep,” CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html
4. Greenspan, Jesse. “The Myth of Ponce de León a
5. nd the Fountain of Youth.” history.com April 2, 2013. https://www.history.com/news/the-myth-of-ponce-de-leon-and-the-fountain-of-youth
6. Gunther, Anna. “Does Lack of Sleep Cause Weight Gain?” Yale New Haven Health. April 25, 2023. https://www.ynhhs.org/articles/does-lack-of-sleep-cause-weight-gain
7. Suni, Eric. “How Sleep Works: Understanding the Science of Sleep,” The Sleep Foundation, December 22, 2023. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works
8. Bowman, Alisa. “Sleep and longevity: How quality sleep impacts your life span,” MC Press (Mayo Clinic). January 19, 2024. https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/healthy-aging/how-quality-sleep-impacts-your-lifespan/
9. Li, H et al. “Association of healthy sleep patterns with risk of mortality and life expectancy at age of 30 years: a population-based cohort study.” QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians. March 27, 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37831896/
10. Windred, W Daniel P et al.”Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration: A prospective cohort study,” Sleep. January 2024. https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/47/1/zsad253/7280269

Napoli, Nicole. “Getting Good Sleep Could Add Years to Your Life,” American College of Cardiology. Feb 23, 2023. https://www.acc.org/About-ACC/Press-Releases/2023/02/22/21/35/Getting-Good-Sleep-Could-Add-Years-to-Your-Life