{"id":5679,"date":"2026-04-25T08:42:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T05:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frc.com.ua\/?p=5679"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T05:42:01","slug":"son-pid-chas-vijni-shho-vidbuva%d1%94tsya-z-organizmom-i-koli-chas-do-likarya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frc.com.ua\/en\/son-pid-chas-vijni-shho-vidbuva%d1%94tsya-z-organizmom-i-koli-chas-do-likarya\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep during war: what happens to the body and when it's time to see a doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fifth year of full-scale war. Insomnia is one of the most common complaints to family doctors and psychotherapists, and the number that clinics see continues to grow. In <\/span><\/i>Forest Retreat Center<\/span><\/i><\/a>, the center for longevity and preventive medicine in Holosiivskyi Forest, explain what sleep is actually responsible for, why it breaks down during chronic stress, and what you definitely shouldn't do.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

What is sleep responsible for?<\/span><\/h1>\n

A person spends a third of their life sleeping. During this time, almost everything happens in the body that there are no resources left for during the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Deep sleep, especially in the first half of the night, is a time of physical recovery. Growth hormone is released, tissues, muscles, and mucous membranes regenerate. It is during sleep that the immune system produces cytokines that control the inflammatory response and protection against infections. One sleepless night reduces the activity of natural killer cells \u2013 cells that are the first to encounter viruses and tumor cells \u2013 by approximately 70%. Chronic sleep deprivation significantly reduces the effectiveness of vaccines and slows down healing.<\/span><\/p>\n

At night, the brain's glymphatic system is active - a kind of "sewerage" that washes out protein residues, in particular beta-amyloid, from the intercellular space. Its excessive accumulation is associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease. During the day, this system is almost inactive: cleaning occurs mainly in deep sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

REM phase, rapid eye movement sleep, prevails in the second half of the night and is responsible for the psyche. The brain reprocesses the experiences of the day, reducing the emotional charge of events. After a good sleep, yesterday really seems less acute - this is the work of REM. This same phase consolidates new skills and forms unexpected associations: an idea that \u201ccame in the morning\u201d is often not a metaphor, but a direct effect of nightly information processing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between phases, a person goes through 4\u20136 cycles of approximately 90 minutes each. Waking up in the middle of a cycle leaves you feeling groggy even after eight hours in bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

And another level: sleep controls appetite hormones (leptin and ghrelin), glucose levels, blood pressure, cortisol. Chronic sleep deprivation is an independent risk factor for stroke, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, depression, and weight gain. It\u2019s like the background against which everything else gradually wears out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why war strikes first at sleep<\/span><\/h1>\n

Air raid warnings, explosions, news, constant background readiness to react \u2013 everything that Ukrainians have learned over these five years, the nervous system reads the same way: threat. Cortisol levels remain elevated in the evening, although they should be falling. The brain remains in alert mode.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next is fragmentation. An alarm in the middle of the night, even a short one, knocks you out of the deep phase. You won\u2019t be able to return to the same depth by morning \u2013 the architecture of sleep is lost. If you add watching a tape before bed, the body receives a nice signal \u201cget ready for action\u201d exactly when it should be switching to recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n

In symptoms it looks like this:<\/span><\/p>\n