Are you having troubles with your sleep lately? It's time you did something about it. If the findings of a latest study are to be believed, sleep deprivation may lead to adverse weight gain. Researchers at Uppsala University through the latest research have tried to demonstrate how one night of sleep loss has a tissue-specific impact on the regulation of gene expression and metabolism in humans.
For the study published in journal Science Advances, researchers studied 15 healthy normal-weight individuals who participated in two in-lab sessions in which activity and meal patterns were highly standardised. In randomised order, the participants slept a normal sleep (over eight hours) for one session during night and were kept awake the entire night as part of the other session.
The morning after each night-time intervention, small tissue samples (biopsies) were taken from the participants' subcutaneous fat and skeletal muscle. These were studied in detail. The two tissues are said to exhibit disrupted metabolism in conditions such as obesity and diabetes.
In the morning, the blood samples were also taken to enable a comparison across tissue compartments of a number of metabolites. These metabolites comprise sugar molecules, as well as different fatty and amino acids.
These tissue samples were further used for multiple molecular analyses, which revealed that the sleep loss condition resulted in a tissue-specific change in DNA methylation, one form of mechanism that regulates gene expression.
Through the study, the researchers aimed was first to demonstrate that acute sleep loss in and of itself results in epigenetic changes in the so-called clock genes that within each tissue regulate its circadian rhythm.
The new findings indicate that sleep loss causes tissue-specific changes to the degree of DNA methylation in genes spread throughout the human genome. The parallel analysis of both muscle and adipose tissue further enabled us to reveal that DNA methylation is not regulated similarly in these tissues in response to acute sleep loss.
The scientists are affirmative that the changes they have observed further concretizes the evidence on how chronic disruption of sleep and circadian rhythms may impact the risk of developing for example obesity.
Sleep deprivation in the modern world is a common problem, considering this fast paced life has so much stress and anxiety to add to. We suggest some foods that may help you get some sound sleep at night, which will further avoid bingeing on junk foods at night.
1. Warm milk
A glass of warm milk is the perfect drink to get you some sound sleep. It contains tryptophan, which is an amino acid that converts into serotonin. Serotonin is said to have soothing effects in the brain, which helps you sleep well.
2. Almonds
Almonds, too, contain tryptophan that having soothing effects on the brain and nerves, which can help you get some sleep. Moreover, the presence of magnesium also keeps heart's rhythm steady. Make sure you have a handful of them.
3. Bananas
Bananas are said to have muscle relaxing magnesium and potassium. In fact, it is also the good carbs present in bananas that help you sleep better.
4. Chamomile tea
It is refreshing, revitalising and fragrant; chamomile tea has soothing effects on your nerves, which helps you sleep better. It is also known to be a natural tranquiliser.