The Effect of Sleeplessness on Thermography

By Thermography of Wisconsin

Ah, those elusive sheep! Perhaps you’ve had an occasional night of counting those fuzzy images, tossing and turning as you ponder the meaning of life, formulate the perfect response to that jibe, or recite the chorus of a song over and over....

Sleep directly affects your health and well-being. Chronic sleeplessness contributes to a myriad of physical health issues by impacting your autonomic nervous system. This system manages involuntary bodily functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion and sexual stimulation, and is key in your ability to manage stress. 

The autonomic nervous system is divided into parasympathetic (rest, digest, reproduce) and sympathetic systems (fight, flee). These two systems constantly jockey back and forth and must be balanced to maintain good health. Sleeplessness interrupts the balance of the two systems, tipping to the sympathetic side and increasing your body’s stress response. This can negatively affect your body’s immune function and increase inflammation leading to autonomic dysfunction and disease. 

Your skin helps to maintain the balance of these two systems. Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (clinical thermography) visualizes your body’s autonomic balance/imbalance state as expressed by temperature emitted through the surface of the skin. 

The hypothalamus gland of your brain is responsible to balance the body’s internal temperature by heat transference through the skin’s surface. Think goose bumps when you are chilled and sweating when you are very warm. Just like the thermostat in your house, the hypothalamus receives internal body temperature signals from blood flow through the brain and external temperature signals from the trunk of your body. 

The hypothalamus, in turn, sends signals to the surface of the skin to respond and bring the body temperature back into balance. 

These thermal patterns, visualized with thermography, provide doctors with information about your body’s autonomic state. Early detection provides you and your care provider with a better opportunity to offset and perhaps reverse potential autonomic disease. 

While having an occasional sleepless night is annoying, chronic sleep disruption will affect the balance of your autonomic system and may affect your health. Be sure to report any sleep issues at your next thermography screening.