Thursday, February 12, 2015

Sleep and the Immune System

There have been some fascinating studies looking at our sleep cycles and how the genes that set the body's circadian clock are connected to our immune cells.  Researchers have found that the proteins produced by our "clock genes" attach to genes for a protein (NFIL3) that guides the development of immune cells and turns on the activity of other cells.  This activity varies by day/night cycles with less of this protein (NFIL3) being produced in the day than at night.  What this means is that we need a healthy pattern of sleep, i.e. patterns of light and dark.  This will help to keep the immune system in balance.  This is especially true for disorders of inflammation (heart disease, asthma, chronic pain, bursitis, dermatitis).  In developed countries, where people's circadian rhythms are chronically disrupted, there are more inflammatory conditions.  These chronic disruptions to our rhythms are related to things mentioned in past posts, such as staying up too late and looking at lit-up screens into all hours of the night.  Another great reason to turn down that light, turn off that screen, and wind down to go to sleep!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

New Sleep Recommendations

Hot off the press, The National Sleep Foundation has updated its nightly sleep recommendations for all ages in a report published February 2nd in Sleep Health: The Official Journal of the National Sleep Foundation.

Here's the breakdown of the recommendations:

Newborn (0-3 months): 14-17 hours (previously: 12-18 hours)
Infant (4-11 months): 12-15 hours (previously: 14-15 hours)
Toddler (1-2 years): 11-14 hours (previously: 12-14 hours)
Preschooler (3-5 years): 10-13 hours (previously: 11-13 hours)
School-Age Child (6-13 years): 9-11 hours (previously: 10-11 hours)
Teen (14-17 years): 8-10 hours (previously: 8½-9½ hours)
Young Adult (18-25 years): 7-9 hours (new category)
Adult (26-64 years): 7-9 hours (no change)
Older Adult (65+ years): 7-8 hours (new category)