Bad Sleep Or Lack Of Sleep May Affect Genes
Bad Sleep Or Lack Of Sleep May Affect Genes
A recent study published this Tuesday shows some potentially negative effects that lack of sleep or bad sleep can have on our health. Previous studies have shown lack of sleep to be the cause of a host of problems from heart disease to cognitive impairment to obesity.
The new research suggests that even a small time frame where our sleep has to suffer, for example a one week period when we get six hours of sleep a night could have devastating effects on our genes.
Sleep expert Derk-Jan Dijk led the other researchers of the study to look at the problem from a molecular level to better understand why lack of sleep starts in the first place and what potential effects could it have on health in the short and long term.
The study has shown that even weeks where people cut their sleep time by a short amount have a harsh impact on their genes. A number of 711 genes were affected in the experiment where a group of patients was made to sleep just six hours a night. Those genes regulated a huge number of functions from the immune system to inflammation to the way we deal with stressful situations.
When data was compared to a group of patients that slept 10 hours a day for a week results were even more amazing. Their gene’s circadian rhythm was affected and a higher number of affected genes sustained damage throughout the day.
At the end of the week, both groups were kept awake for 40 hours while their bodily reaction was carefully studied. Data showed that the group who had a 10 hour per night sleep period suffered a great deal lesser damage than the ones who only had a 6 hour period of sleep allocated.
According to The Sleep Foundation people should get anywhere between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night, however, this ranges from person to person. So if a person has a normal, healthy sleep period of 7 hours that doesn't necessarily mean that he or she will have to deal with gene alteration during the day. Researchers also mentioned that it isn't just about the amount of time we sleep, but the quality of the sleep matters too, this being a much harder variable to quantify.
The National Sleep Foundation conducted a survey in 2012 that showed that a staggering 41 percent of Americans had restless nights at least a couple of days a week while 24 percent blamed their lack of sleep on their partners snoring or movement.
Posted by
