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A recent check out the link between sleep and health is the first study to exhibit the direct results of fragmented sleep on cancer growth.
According to recent research published in the journal Cancer Research, poor-quality sleep marked by frequent awakenings can speed cancer growth, increase tumor aggressiveness and dampen the immune system’s ability to control or eradicate early cancers.
“It’s not the tumor, it’s the defense mechanisms,” said study director Dr. David Gozal in a statement. “Fragmented sleep changes how the immune system handles cancer in ways that make the condition more aggressive,” added Gozal, chairman of pediatrics in the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital
Dr. Gozal and colleagues studied two categories of mice, one that slept normally and something that had its sleep frequently disturbed for that purpose of the experiment. The researchers found that tumors from mice with fragmented sleep were two times as large plus much more aggressive in their invasion of surrounding tissue.
“In the fragmented-sleep mice, the tumors were a lot more invasive,” said Dr. Gozal. “They went into muscle, in to the bone. It had been a mess.”
However, the study also found a possible method for triggering the defense mechanisms to battle these results of fragmented sleep. A biological messenger called toll-like receptor 4, or TLR4, helps control activation from the immune system. In mice lacking TLR4, tumor growth was no more than in mice with undisturbed sleep, offering understanding of potential methods for limiting the effects of sleep on cancer growth.
The Cdc and Prevention estimate that 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems. “Taking into consideration the high prevalence of both sleep problems and cancer in middle age or older populations,” the research authors wrote, “there are far-reaching implications.”
“The take-home message,” said Dr. Gozal, “is to deal with your sleep quality and quantity like you take care of your bank account.”
