When your head hits the pillow at the end of a long day, you might think you’re shutting down, but in reality, your body is getting ready to work the night shift, repairing muscles, consolidating memory, releasing hormones to regulate appetite and promote growth, and much more, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Keeping up this maintenance schedule every day is crucial for survival, especially if you’re in the process of healing from a trauma, such as illness or surgery.

Patients often ask Elisa Port, M.D., co-director of the Dubin Breast Center and Chief of Breast Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, why they need so much extra sleep after a medical procedure. “Your body is working overdrive to do all of these other functions that it needs to do to repair itself, it’s too much for it to stay awake,” says Port, author of the new book, The New Generation Breast Cancer Book: How to Navigate Your Diagnosis and Treatment Options-and Remain Optimistic-in an Age of Information Overload. In this video interview, Sonima.com founder Sonia Jones discusses with Port the healing powers of sleep, particularly for breast cancer patients.

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