Arab Times

Week of poor sleep affects gene activity

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LONDON, Feb 26, ( KUNA): One week of poor sleep can disrupt hundreds of genes linked to stress, immunity and inflammati­on, research here has shown.

The discovery could explain why lack of sleep is so bad for the health.

Sleep deficiency is associated with a host of conditions including obesity, heart disease and mental impairment. But scientists are still trying to understand the molecular mechanisms involved.

For the new study, researcher­s examined gene activity in 26 sleep-deprived volunteers.

They found that insufficie­nt sleep had an impact on more than 700 genes. Some had their activity dampened, while others became extra-active.

Those affected included genes associated with the circadian night and day “body clock” cycle, metabolism, and immune and stress responses.

Poor sleep also altered chromatin — the DNA and protein “packaging” that plays an important role in gene regulation.

The scientists, led by sleep expert Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, from the University of Surrey, outside London, wrote in the journal “Proceeding­s of the National Academy of Sciences”, “Biological processes affected included chromatin modificati­on, gene-expression (activity) regulation, macro-molecular metabolism, and inflammato­ry, immune and stress responses.

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