21, 2022 — found that a chronic lack of sleep could affect a person’s immune cells and contribute to inflammation in the body. .

The study revealed that in humans and mice, disturbed sleep can influence the cell programming and rate of production of the immune cells; this can then cause the immune cells to lose their effectiveness in protecting against disease.

"This is important because it is yet another key observation that sleep reduces inflammation and, conversely, that sleep interruption increases inflammation," Swirski said in a news release. .

A new study looked at the long-term effects of chronic sleep deprivation — compared to the short-term interruption of sleep across a few days.

The study looked at long-term effects of chronic sleep deprivation, said McAlpine, compared to a short-term interruption in sleep over a few days. 

He said the study helped identify biological mechanisms and pathways that link sleep and immune system health over a long period. 

All 14 participants in a new study had "significant changes" in their immune cells which were attributed to the lack of sleep, according to the findings

The investigators compared the blood samples and found that all 14 participants had significant changes in their immune cells that they attributed to the lack of sleep

We can detect a molecular imprint of insufficient sleep in immune stem cells, even after weeks of recovery sleep."

The research team analyzed the immune stem cells and the cells from the groups of mice — and the findings were consistent with the human study, McAlpine said

Not all stem cells responded to insufficient sleep in the same manner, he said. 

McAlpine said that some cells did remain (after the sleep recovery) that predisposed mice to inflammation. 

In a news release, the co-investigator said, "Our findings suggest that sleep recovery is not able to fully reverse the effects of poor-quality sleep

We can detect a molecular imprint of insufficient sleep in immune stem cells, even after weeks of recovery sleep