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Six hours of sleep rewrites 711 genes
The activity of about half of those genes increased, and the other half decreased. The decreased ones were genes tied to numerous aspects of the immune system, which fits with the evidence on natural killer cells and cancer.
The increased ones were genes related to the promotion of tumors, to chronic inflammation in the body, and to stress and the cardiovascular disease that follows from it.
Almost one out of every two American adults is trying to get by on six hours of sleep or less during the week. Choosing insufficient sleep amounts to a genetic modification experiment on oneself, and children who are not allowed the sleep they need may be subject to the same experiment. No aspect of physiology seems able to retreat from sleep deprivation unscathed, much like a broken water pipe in a home that leaks into every nook and cranny.
How can sleep change what genes do?
Sleep does not alter the DNA sequence. It changes gene expression, meaning how actively each gene is read out to make proteins. The 711-gene result comes from a 2013 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Carla Möller-Levet and colleagues at the University of Surrey. Their volunteers had blood drawn after a week of insufficient sleep and again after a week of long sleep. Genes involved in immunity, inflammation, and the stress response were among those that shifted.
Why does chronic inflammation matter for the heart?
Inflammation drives the buildup of fatty plaque in artery walls. Immune cells enter the wall, take up cholesterol, and form deposits that can narrow or block the vessel. A blood marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein, is used by researchers to track this risk. Trials such as the CANTOS study in 2017 showed that lowering inflammation alone reduced cardiovascular events.
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