It's common knowledge that too little sleep can increase our odds of getting sick, but a new study sheds light on just how direct the connection is. Researchers found that the body's circadian clock controls an essential immune system gene in mice -- a gene that helps the body ward off bacteria and viruses.
"People intuitively know that when their sleep patterns are disturbed, they are more likely to get sick," study author Erol Fikrig, professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, said in a press release. "It does appear that disruptions of the circadian clock influence our susceptibility to pathogens."
Circadian rhythms are internal oscillations that follow an approximately 24-hour cycle and regulate various physiological and mental processes. The rhythms are controlled by a particular group of nerve cells in the brain and can be influenced by behavior.
"They are the reason we feel hungry, sleepy, more alert and have better mental clarity at consistent times every day and night," explained Rebecca Scott, a sleep specialist at the New York Sleep Institute, who was not associated with the study.
"And those are just some of what we perceive," she continued. "Our blood pressure, hormones, immune function and a host of other functions also follow a circadian rhythm."
In the new study, researchers set out to further unpack the connection between immunity and the body's clock by examining whether a key immune system gene -- the so-called "Toll-like receptor 9" gene -- is under circadian control and, if so, what that might mean for immune system function, including defense against infection.
Using mice, the researchers found that when levels of that particular gene were highest, the mice were better able to withstand infections. The results were published online Wednesday in the journal Immunity.
"What we discovered is that this innate immune gene is under circadian rhythm," Adam C. Silver, a postdoctorate associate in infectious diseases at Yale and one of the study's authors, told The Huffington Post.
"We also found that the time of vaccination influenced the immune response," he added.
Indeed, the study suggests that when expression levels of that same gene were highest, the mice had the greatest response to vaccination. Though Silver cautioned that the new research is preliminary and merely a building block in a relatively new area of scientific exploration, the potential implications are rather novel, suggesting that getting vaccinated at certain points in the day might dramatically impact the immune system's ability to fight off certain sicknesses.
"If we have a better understanding of how specific immune markers are affected or changed by disruptions in our circadian rhythm, then we may be better able to advise the public on how to potentially ward off sickness, especially when they might be more vulnerable to a cold, flu or virus," Scott agreed.
In the meantime, as such research continues, there are steps people can take to help maintain their circadian clock.
Certain rhythms, such as the sleep-wake cycle, are directly influenced by behavior, Scott explained. That means being exposed to too much light before bed or not getting enough light within an hour of waking can impact one's biological or inherent clock.
"Keep in mind that we feel, function and are healthiest when we work with our circadian rhythms and keep them in-line with the 24-hour day," Scott said. "Establishing routines with eating, sleeping and exercising as best as possible maintains our rhythm and encourages health -- emotional and physical."
T.S. Wiley further notes, "The world as we know it, from bacteria to blue whales, the whole universe, in fact, is all about timing, within each of us and in relation to everything outside us. The individual rhythms overlap into larger patterns that then again weave in and out of each other. Human beings swim in this sea of rhythms; the examples are myriad."
"The moon provides more light with its full face and sure enough, as the new moon ends, every twenty-eight days females bleed. Babies in utero synchronize their movements to the sound of their mothers' voices. This sets up a pattern of emotional response to mom calling you for dinner as your very brain architecture is being laid down. More babies are born between midnight and 6:00 a.m. than any other time period, thanks to our circadian clock. The circadian clock in every cell measures one spin of the planet, or twenty-four hours."
"Instrumental music is just an expression of those rhythms, ineffable to some, but quite tangible to others. Because there is a beat to it, it is generally accepted that the rhythm originates in the music, but more likely music is a highly specialized releaser of the rhythms already inherent in the listener. We, and all life on Earth, are dancers to a tune we've heard so long that we've forgotten we're dancing."
"A scientist named Hans Selye asserted that it's only when we can't dance that we get sick. He called it "perennial adaptation." His hypothesis was that illness only occurs when an organism is stuck in a constant effort to adapt to the next level of existence, when it is no longer living in rhythm. When our menstrual cycles stop, it's evident that we won't make it to the next level - reproduction - ever again. Nature hates that."
"We adapted to the rhythm of the planet and internalized it in our hormonal rhythms. Our hormones designed the rhythms of our sleep, our appetite for sex and food, and our menstrual, birth, and nursing cycles in tandem with the weather and food supply. In order to survive, all things alive had to integrate life-sustaining activities in rhythm with the planet's offerings. Sleeping, eating, mating, playing, learning, giving birth, and even dying are set to internal clocks. "
T.S. Wiley concludes, "When things cease to beat, they cease to be."
Street Light and Electronic Device LED pollution for the former,
and Daylight Saving Time for the latter.
Lighting is due to power generation profits, and DST is a misinformed and ignorant way to make one day 23 hrs long, and another day 25 hours long.
At least some states and countries are waking up to the fact that DST is detrimental, and have either totally abandoned it (Arizona) or totally stayed on the time shift permanently (Russia).