THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP IS UNDERAPPRECIATED: Lessons emerge as scientists unravel a new understanding of sleep.

Doctors are increasingly waking up to the idea that getting enough sleep is crucial. In 2022, the American Heart Association advised physicians that asking patients how many hours they sleep is as important as checking their blood pressure, smoking status, diet and exercise habits.

But many of us routinely force our bodies to fight sleep. We drink caffeinated beverages by day to stay alert, and alcohol to wind down at night. Some of us work all night and sleep in daylight. Others switch time zones and struggle with jet lag.

At the same time, neuroscientists are realizing that the timing of our sleep may be just as important as the amount. We are beginning to understand how we might work with, rather than against, the rhythms of our bodies. For example, new research suggests these rhythms may play a role in patients’ responses to cancer treatment. . . .

People whose lives are synchronized with their body clock signals are less fatigued, have better moods, maintain healthier weights, gain more benefit from their medications, think more clearly, and have improved long-term health outcomes, said neuroscientist Russell Foster, who heads the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford University in the U.K.

Naturally early risers, or morning ‘larks,’ do best when they can wake up early and sleep early. ‘Night owls’ do best if they can sleep until later in the morning.

But when our routines don’t match our biological cycles, the body tries to compensate using responses that evolved to help early humans survive danger, neuroscientist Foster said. It churns out stress hormones, releases hunger hormones, pumps extra sugar into the blood and raises blood pressure.

For brief periods, this is not harmful. But when it lasts months or years, we become more vulnerable to cognitive and emotional effects and eventually to cardiovascular diseases, mental illness, diabetes, overweight and other metabolic disorders.

I believe it.

Plus: “Circadian rhythms shift with age. ‘Eveningness,’ or peak alertness at night, tends to be highest in adolescence. We drift toward ‘morningness’ as we age. One consequence of this is that teachers are generally more alert in the morning, but their students are more alert in the afternoon.”

UPDATE: Oops, link was wrong. Fixed now. Sorry!