Study ties sleep deprivation to body health damage
A new study conducted by the British researchers indicates that bad sleep patterns can have a dramatic effect on the activity levels of hundreds of genes.
According to the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the internal workings of the human body are threatened when the sleep program is cut to less than six hours a day for a week.
Researchers studied the blood of 26 people who had plenty of sleep, over10 hours each night for a week then they compared the results with the analysis of the samples of those ones with the sleep of fewer than six hours a night during a week.
The results show that the people with sleep deprivation are at a higher risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and depression.
The analysis, conducted at the University of Surrey, unraveled that more than 700 genes were altered after substandard sleep while each of them contains the instructions for building a sort of protein.
"There was quite a dramatic change in activity in many different kinds of genes," said Professor Colin Smith from the University of Surrey.
"Clearly sleep is critical to rebuilding the body and maintaining a functional state, all kinds of damage appear to occur - hinting at what may lead to ill health and if we do not actually replenish and replace new cells, then that is going to lead to degenerative diseases,” he explained.
The study also demonstrated that when the participants did not get enough sleep they suffered more lapses in attention than when they had an adequate amount of rest, according to their performance assessment while they were awake.
Researchers also made clear that the body’s stress levels and the immune system were the most affected areas by bad sleep patterns.
Scientists currently believe most adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Source: presstv.com
