During the deepest phases of sleep, blood flow to muscles increases. Since blood carries oxygen and nutrients, this helps the muscles heal. In many cases, cells are regenerated by this increased flow of blood.
Sleep helps with recovery by reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol breaks down tissues in the body for energy, which is the opposite of what growth hormones do. So, by lowering cortisol levels, sleep allows growth hormones to more effectively rebuild injured tissues.
People who slept normally healed in about 4.2 days. The sleep-deprived volunteers took about 5 days to heal. And getting better nutrition offered no clear benefit. Scientists sampled fluid from the wounds.
As Andy Coghlan at New Scientist reports, researchers have found that wounds sustained during the day heal twice as fast as those that occur at night.
This is consistent with other research showing that sleep deprivation slows the healing process. Sleep has a powerful effect on the immune system, so it's not just wound healing, but all forms of recovery from illness, injury, and disease that are affected by sleep.
Factors that can slow the wound healing process include: Dead skin (necrosis) – dead skin and foreign materials interfere with the healing process. Infection – an open wound may develop a bacterial infection. The body fights the infection rather than healing the wound.
This is important because it is yet another key observation that sleep reduces inflammation and, conversely, that sleep interruption increases inflammation,” says lead author Filip Swirski, PhD, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai.
Healing speed depends on numerous factors, including oxygenation, lifestyle, nutrition and wound location. Injuries in places with higher blood circulation generally heal faster, while wounds in areas that move may require more healing time. Educating yourself and taking care of your body can also impact recovery.
Now, a new study suggests that timing also matters. Skin cells that help patch up wounds work more quickly in the daytime than they do at night, thanks to the workings of our circadian clock. The finding suggests patients might recover from injury more quickly if they have surgery during the right time of day.
Mouth wounds heal faster than injuries to other parts of the skin, and now scientists are learning how the mouth performs its speedy repairs. Some master regulators of gene activity work overtime in the mouth to heal wounds without scarring, researchers report July 25 in Science Translational Medicine.
If there are muscles in need of healing, the brain triggers a rush of hormones that promote tissue growth that repairs the blood vessels when you sleep. This process helps ease muscle soreness, rebuild damaged muscles, and encourage wounds to heal properly.
In fact, recent research shows that when it comes to wound healing, our bodies actually heal significantly faster if the injury is sustained during the day rather than at night, because of the way circadian rhythms control how cells function.
During deep sleep, the body repairs muscles and tissues, stimulates growth and boosts immune function.
What causes tiredness/fatigue? After an injury, your brain is not able to process information as effectively or efficiently as before (i.e. limited ability to multi-task, decreased processing speed). Mental activity now takes more effort which can result in rapid mental fatigue and feeling overloaded.
Fibrous connective tissues like ligaments and tendons as well as bones, cartilage, and nerves tend to take the longest to heal.
Wounds heal more quickly if they occur during the day rather than after dark, a study suggests. It found burns sustained at night took an average of 28 days to heal, but just 17 for those that happened in daytime.
If the wound environment is dry, the cells will have to find moisture deep in the wound bed so that they can migrate. This slows down the healing process. In fact, studies show that moist wounds heal 50 % faster than dry wounds.
Water is what helps thin the blood and move nutrients and oxygen through the body. That's why it's crucial to drink a lot of water after an injury or surgery, so that these cell-repairing nutrients can be easily brought to the recovering area.
On top of that, young bodies are always growing. Bodily resources and energy are constantly being used to create bone and muscle tissue. Organs are growing and developing. Since the body is always engaged in this process anyway, healing also happens faster.
A short nap may help boost the body's immune system. Napping may help reduce stress and the levels of inflammatory cytokines and norepinephrine in the body.
But excessive sleepiness can be a harbinger of underlying health problems or insomnia—if you're napping for long hours each day for no apparent reason, get checked by a doctor. Napping can reduce inflammation in the body.
Daytime napping has also been tied to increased and decreased inflammation.
The factors discussed include oxygenation, infection, age and sex hormones, stress, diabetes, obesity, medications, alcoholism, smoking, and nutrition. A better understanding of the influence of these factors on repair may lead to therapeutics that improve wound healing and resolve impaired wounds.