Not getting your beauty sleep? Sorry, but you could be causing long-term damage to your body. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that sleep deficiency can lead to genetic changes that may contribute to disease. Researchers at the University of Surrey in England studied 26 volunteers—healthy adults who didn’t suffer from sleep disorders like sleep apnea or restless legs syndrome—over the course of two 12-day evaluation periods. For the first test period, volunteers were allowed to stay in bed for up to 10 hours for one week straight. (Seriously, where can we sign up for this?) Results indicated that participants slept an average of 8.5 hours, which, as you undoubtedly learned years ago, is what experts refer to as “A Good Night’s Sleep.” The second test was a little less pleasant: Participants were allowed to stay in bed for only six hours, which yielded, on average, 5.7 hours of sleep. And for the final part of each 12-day stay, they were forced to stay awake for 39 to 41 hours and had their blood drawn every three hours. These blood tests revealed to researchers that sleepless nights can alter the expression of hundreds of genes, many of them involved in immunity, stress reduction, and inflammation control. Gene expression is complicated stuff for anyone who doesn’t have a PhD, but here’s the takeaway: The changes in each volunteer’s RNA—a molecule that essentially acts as a messenger and carries DNA instructions that create proteins—were reflected in gene regulation. That means lack of sleep can change patterns in the way your genes are activated and deactivated. (Doctors call this disrupting the circadian clock.) William Kohler, MD, the medical director of the Florida Sleep Institute and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, hopes to see this study pave the way for further research. “It’s very fascinating that we’re able to evaluate so specifically this gene activation and deactivation,” Dr. Kohler said. “Our body is wonderfully built, so if everything is functioning well we’re a healthy specimen. But if we alter that balance, then things potentially deteriorate.” Fascinating as it is, this research is still a long way from concluding that sleep deprivation—loosely defined in most studies as fewer than six hours a night—can directly contribute to many conditions. But while experts keep plugging away at the sleep-sickness connection, know that you’ve already got a solution: “By getting more sleep,” Dr. Kohler says, “we can improve that balance.” More from Prevention: 10 Simple Sleep Remedies Questions? Comments? Contact Prevention’s News Team.
