Study Says Bad Sleep Screws With Your Genes

We all know how we feel after a bad night's sleep.  But that bad feeling is more than just a bad feeling.  According to a study done by the University of Surrey, getting not enough sleep changes your genes which can "dramatically alter" your body, including making you more prone to illness.

The study took blood tests of 26 human guinea pigs for a week.  The volunteers had varied amounts of sleep.  The most dramatic differences were seen in people that got less than 6 hours sleep per night.  More than 700 genes had altered in some way.

Each gene makes a protein, so after 700 differing proteins from the changed genes, the body's overall chemistry was significantly altered.  Changes effected the body's immune system.

Researchers do not know why poor sleep triggered these changes.  One theory is that the body regenerates cells and repairs minor injuries while we sleep.  For a still unknown reason, the body can only do carry out these repairs and maintenance when the body is asleep.

What they do know is that people aren't getting enough sleep -- but we could have told them that, already.

Hopefully, studies like this will let employers ease up on insisting that employees spend practically every waking moment at work.  We need time to sleep!