Have I Got Snooze for You
Posted by Science Oxford on August 28, 2011 | comments
By Judith Eades, Regional Communication Manager (South & South West), Medical Research Council.
There is nothing like a good night’s sleep to make you feel relaxed and revitalised. Scientific research has already proven that sleep can benefit our recovery from illness and injury, and positively influence our sense of well-being. Now scientists in Oxford are exploring the potential curative effect of sleep in patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.
Dr Pete Oliver is a scientist at the Medical Research Council’s Functional Genomics Unit (FGU) in Oxford. His research focuses on understanding the impact of the environment – specifically sleep disturbance – on the brains of people with psychiatric illnesses. He explains: “Many people will complain of a poor night’s sleep occasionally, but frequent sleep disturbance is a common feature of those diagnosed with neurological disorders, including psychiatric disease. The aim of our work is to understand the pathways in the brain that link abnormal brain function with sleep patterns.”
Continued sleep deprivation can severely affect the part of the brain – the hypothalamus – that controls language, memory and planning. This is why people often become forgetful and short-tempered when they haven’t slept well.
Scientists already understand that our internal body clock – known as our circadian rhythms – helps to control hormone production throughout an approximate 24-hour cycle, and that influences many of our bodily functions.
Our genes also help to control our body clock: switching on and off depending on the amount of light our brains receive via the optic nerve. If there is a mistake in one of those genes, our circadian rhythms will be disrupted.
Pete says: “Abnormal circadian rhythms, caused by faulty genes, can be linked not only to sleep disorders such as insomnia but also to mental health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder. It’s also common in diseases such as Parkinson’s and schizophrenia, leading us to explore the genetic causes of this disruption.”
“This means that improving sleep patterns in neurological disease may positively influence the symptoms of these disorders” he says. “Importantly, this is a cheap and potentially highly effective method of improving the quality of life for patients and their families.”
The scientific exploration of light as a treatment for psychiatric disease is both exciting and challenging. However, the potential to produce simple and effective clinical treatments for psychiatric patients could be one wake-up call that these patients are looking forward to.
Dr Pete Oliver will be talking about his research at Science Oxford Live on Thursday 1st September. For more information on this, and other Science Oxford events, visit www.scienceoxfordlive.com
ABOUT DR. PETER OLIVER
Dr. Oliver has worked in genetics research for 15 years and is interested in the way the genes and the environment influence sleep, particularly in human disease. The talk will cover some of the facts and myths surrounding sleep and the role of genetics in the control of circadian rhythms – if you can stay awake, of course.
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