RESEARCH - The immune system may work better at night

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Immune System Works Better at Night

Washington Post

Monday, December 15, 2008; 12:00 AM

MONDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A good night's sleep really does a

sick body good, new research says.

Stanford University research with fruit flies reveals that the immune

system fights invading bacteria the hardest at night and the least

during the day. The findings were to be presented Sunday at the

American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting, in San Francisco.

" These results suggest that immunity is stronger at night, consistent

with the hypothesis that circadian proteins upregulate restorative

functions such as specific immune responses during sleep, when animals

are not engaged in metabolically costly activities, " Stanford

researcher Mimi Shirasu-Hiza said in a news release issued by the

conference organizers.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121500907.\

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