Loss of sleep, even for a single night, increases inflammation in the body

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Loss of sleep, even for a single night, increases inflammation in the

body

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/e-los090208.php

Loss of sleep, even for a few short hours during the night, can

prompt one's immune system to turn against healthy tissue and organs.

A new article in the September 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry,

by the UCLA Cousins Center research team, reports that losing sleep

for even part of one night can trigger the key cellular pathway that

produces tissue-damaging inflammation. The findings suggest a good

night's sleep can ease the risk of both heart disease and autoimmune

disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Specifically, the researchers measured the levels of nuclear factor

(NF)-?B, a transcription factor that serves a vital role in the

body's inflammatory signaling, in healthy adults. These measurements

were repeatedly assessed, including in the morning after baseline (or

normal) sleep, after partial sleep deprivation (where the volunteers

were awake from 11 pm to 3:00 am), and after recovery sleep. In the

morning after sleep loss, they discovered that activation of NF-?B

signaling was significantly greater than after baseline or recovery

sleep. It's important to note that they found this increase in

inflammatory response in only the female subjects.

These data close an important gap in understanding the cellular

mechanisms by which sleep loss enhances inflammatory biology in

humans, with implications for understanding the association between

sleep disturbance and risk of a wide spectrum of medical conditions

including cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, certain

cancers, and obesity. H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological

Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of

Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments: " The

closer that we look at sleep, the more that we learn about the

benefits of sleeping. In this case, Irwin and colleagues provide

evidence that sleep deprivation is associated with enhancement of pro-

inflammatory processes in the body. "

" Physical and psychological stress brought on in part by grinding

work, school and social schedules is keeping millions of Americans up

at night, " said Dr. Irwin, lead author and director of the Cousins

Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the Semel Institute. " America's

sleep habits are simply not healthy. Our findings suggest even modest

sleep loss may play a role in common disorders that affect sweeping

segments of the population. " In other words, sleep is vitally

important to maintaining a healthy body. And as Dr. Krystal

notes, " these findings provide a potential mechanistic avenue through

which addressing sleep disturbance might improve health. "