Are you struggling with poor sleep? How often do you toss and roll as you struggle to fall asleep? Is falling and staying asleep a challenge, and do you wake up early, can’t get back to sleep, and often feel tired when you wake up? Poor sleep is a common problem affecting millions globally. If you have chronic sleep dysfunction, you are at high risk of concerns like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, depression, and obesity, to name a few health issues. Even when not chronic, lack of sleep impacts your concentration and performance, concerns that give the quality of your life a blow.
Quality sleep can’t be emphasized enough as you strive to lead a healthy and productive life. Nonetheless, this is easier said than done, especially considering other health concerns. Insomnia and psoriasis, for example, have been seen to cause significant sleep challenges. Herein, we will take a glance at how psoriasis and sleep dysfunction could be connected to help up your quest to enjoy quality sleep and healthier life.
What is psoriasis?
Psoriasis is an autoimmune chronic inflammatory skin condition. An itchy rash and scaly patches commonly characterize the condition. The condition mostly affects the scalp, elbows, knees and trunk. You may wonder, how does a skin condition impact your sleep quality? The connection between psoriasis and sleep dysfunction may not be scientifically clear. The disease and its complications, like pain, can affect your concentration and sleep quality.
Psoriasis impact on sleep
If you have psoriasis, you are at high risk of sleep dysfunction. This includes restless leg syndrome, insomnia, and obstructive sleep apnea. The psychological impacts, especially during psoriasis onset, can impact your sleep. Stress, anxiety, and depression are likely to be a concern, contributing to sleep dysfunction.
Your looks impact your confidence levels. It is among the top reasons you have a skin care regimen, with or without a pre-existing condition. You know or have researched what cream to use for eczema on eyelids. This is not just because of your sight safety but how it helps you spot a smooth and youthful look. As psoriasis rash shows, you are likely to be self-conscious. This leads to social anxiety, as you won’t be as confident stepping out. In some people, self-isolation kicks in as they look to hide what they see as an imperfection. This causes the stress levels to skyrocket, and depression quickly creeps in, affecting their mental wellness.
When your stress levels hit new highs, the stress hormones (cortisol) levels elevate. This disrupts your sleep, and you are likely to suffer from difficulty falling asleep and fragmented sleep. It gets worse since the lack of quality sleep triggers your body’s stress response, further elevating the stress hormones. You can easily be trapped in a stress-sleep cycle and, in the long run, suffer sleep deprivation.
Lack of quality sleep and psoriasis
Sleep deprivation impacts your immune system and collagen production, worsening your skin condition. This means that the more you struggle to maintain quality sleep, the worse the skin condition gets. Sleep is essential for your overall health. It gives your body the needed break to heal and recover from the wear and tear experienced throughout the day. When your sleep takes a blow, your balance is affected. This is from the immune function, cardiovascular, digestive and mental health, to mention a few aspects.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease. Your body’s immune system overreacts and attacks normal tissues. The lack of sleep and elevated stress levels worsens skin conditions since the immune system is further impacted by the lack of sleep. The exacerbation of psoriasis due to the impacted immune system in the epidermal barrier means that sleep loss is a risk factor for developing the skin condition.
The mutual relationship
Lack of sleep can lead to psoriasis or symptoms flare up. On the other hand, psoriasis and its complication impact your sleep quality. So, the connection between psoriasis and sleep dysfunction goes both ways. If your sleep quality is affected by concerns like a jammed schedule or other life stressors like trauma, you are at risk of psoriasis and other skin conditions breakout. If you have psoriasis, you are likely to have sleep difficulty due to complications like the itchy or painful rash or the psychological effect. As such, you need more of a holistic approach to realize better results and progress since neglecting one only worsens the other.
Improving sleep quality and kicking your mental health efforts a notch higher can help manage psoriasis. This includes adopting a skin-healthy diet, using the right products in line with your skin type, physical exercise, and following a practical sleep schedule. Know and follow your circadian rhythm, manage stress, and stay physically active; it’ll help keep psoriasis at bay or under control. This will improve your sleep quality since the appearance won’t stress you, and you won’t be dealing with a painful itch that strikes just when you are about to catch the ZZzs.
