Tag Archives: Disrupted Sleep

Tributes: Sleep Medicine Pioneer William Dement Dies At 91 – “Drowsiness Is Red Alert” (1928 – 2020)

June 19, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

June 18, 2020

His mission was to educate the world about the importance of sleep, which he believed was dangerously undervalued. His motto, “drowsiness is red alert,” is a message he tirelessly broadcast to his students, trainees, members of Congress and the world at large.

William Dement, MD, PhD, known as the father of sleep medicine, died June 17 after a two-year battle with cardiovascular disease. He was 91.

With a handful of other scientists, Dement, a longtime faculty member of the Stanford School of Medicine, created the fields of sleep research and sleep medicine, and his many books and lectures helped raise awareness of sleep disorders and the dangers of sleep deprivation.

Dement’s many other accomplishments and accolades range far and wide: Dement and Guilleminault were the founding editors of the journal Sleep, the first major international journal devoted to sleep, publishing the first issue in 1978. He was the author of books for lay readers, including The Promise of Sleep, Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep and The Sleepwatchers. The 2012 comedy film Sleepwalk with Me featured The Promise of Sleep and Dement in a cameo.

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Health, Sleep, Sleep Health, Studies

Study: “Fragmented Sleep” Increases Inflammation & Hardening Of The Arteries

June 9, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From UC Berkeley (June 4, 2020):

“We’ve discovered that fragmented sleep is associated with a unique pathway — chronic circulating inflammation throughout the blood stream — which, in turn, is linked to higher amounts of plaques in coronary arteries,” said study senior author Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience.

Disrupted nightly sleep and clogged arteries tend to sneak up on us as we age. And while both disorders may seem unrelated, a new UC Berkeley study helps explain why they are, in fact, pathologically intertwined.

Some tips to improve sleep quality

Maintain a regular sleep routine, going to bed and waking up at the same time each day.
As part of a nightly wind-down routine, avoid viewing computer, smartphone and TV screens in the last hour before bedtime, and keep phones and other digital devices out of the bedroom.
Engage in some form of physical exercise during the day.
Get exposure to natural daylight, especially in the first half of the day.
Avoid stimulants, like caffeine, and sedatives, like alcohol, later in the day.

UC Berkeley sleep scientists have begun to reveal what it is about fragmented nightly sleep that leads to the fatty arterial plaque buildup known as atherosclerosis that can result in fatal heart disease.

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Health, News, Sleep, Studies

Studies: Irregular Sleep Disrupts Pancreatic “Circadian Rhythms”, Leading To Type 2 Diabetes

January 31, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Technology Networks online article:

By comparing the pancreatic cells of type 2 diabetic human donors with those of healthy people, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and at the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG), Switzerland, were able to demonstrate, for the first time, that the pancreatic islet cells derived from the Type 2 Diabetic human donors bear compromised circadian oscillators.

The disruption of the circadian clocks was concomitant with the perturbation of hormone secretion. Moreover, using clock modulator molecule dubbed Nobiletin, extracted from lemon peel, the researchers succeeded in “repairing” the disrupted cellular clocks and in partial restoring of the islet cell function. These results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, provide a first insight into innovative approach for diabetes care.

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The circadian clock system (from Latin “circa diem”, about a day) allows the organisms to anticipate periodical changes of geophysical time, and to adjust to these changes. Nearly all the cells in our body comprise molecular clocks that regulate and synchronize metabolic functions to a 24-hour cycle of day-night changes.

Today, increasing evidence show that disturbances in our internal clocks stemming from frequent time zone changes, irregular working schedules or ageing, have a significant impact on the development of metabolic diseases in human beings, including type-2 diabetes. Such disturbances seem to prevent the proper functioning of the cells in the pancreatic islet that secrete insulin and glucagon, the hormones that regulate blood sugar levels.

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Diet, Health, News, Sleep, Studies

Studies: Disrupted Sleep Cycles & Dopamine Linked; Craving “High-Calorie Food” & Obesity Are Result

January 4, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a NeuroscienceNews.com online release article (01/02/20):

During the years 1976 through 1980, 15% of U.S. adults were obese. Today, about 40%of adults are obese. Another 33% are overweight.

“But, of course, food is now abundant, and our next meal is as close as the kitchen, or the nearest fast-food drive-through, or right here on our desk. Often, these foods are high in fats, sugars, and therefore calories, and that’s why they taste good. It’s easy to overconsume, and, over time, this takes a toll on our health.”

Current Biology Journal Dopamine Signaling and Weight Gain January 2 2020 — Dopamine Signaling in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Enables Weight Gain Associated with Hedonic Feeding – Current Biology January 2, 2020

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In a study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology, Güler and his colleagues demonstrate that the pleasure center of the brain that produces the chemical dopamine, and the brain’s separate biological clock that regulates daily physiological rhythms, are linked, and that high-calorie foods – which bring pleasure – disrupt normal feeding schedules, resulting in overconsumption. Using mice as study models, the researchers mimicked the 24/7 availability of a high-fat diet, and showed that anytime snacking eventually results in obesity and related health problems.

Health, Sleep, Studies

Sleep Studies: Increase In Preventable Diseases Tied To Disrupted “Circadian Rhythms” (Harvard)

November 2, 2019 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From a Sleep Review Magazine online article:

When people are awake during the night, their behaviors are often mismatched with their internal body clocks. This can lead to nighttime eating, which can influence the way the body processes sugar and could lead to a higher risk in diabetes. “What happens when food is eaten when you normally should be fasting?” Scheer asked the audience. “What happens is that your glucose tolerance goes out the window….So your glucose levels after a meal are much higher.” This can increase people’s risk for diabetes.

Frank Scheer, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the medical chronobiology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, says disruption of the body’s circadian rhythms may be one major reason why more Americans are living with preventable diseases. During his keynote talk at the 2019 AAST annual meeting in St. Louis, he outlined how recent research supports the hypothesis that higher rates of shiftwork and other forms of nighttime disruption could be contributing to increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and other common ailments.