Work and Life Balance & Importance of Sleep!

 

As I have had, & still am sailing through the turbulence of a student Life with a gradual transition from classrooms to the research Lab, I am pretty aware of the unstructured work hours, most of which are unconditional and are usually conceived by our own working-hard-and-rising-high notions. As a result, a new hypothetical species has evolved that can be spotted easily in libraries, book-cafes, and buried behind dustiest books on their study desks, anytime from dusk to dawn! This species has been named until very recently as – “Studentiana Night-owl-iana!” Following picture was taken in one of those classified moments which these creatures cherish a lot. Have a look: 

          

Although this newly evolved species is quite intelligent and work dedicated but they have a yet uncharacterized mutation called OvA (for, over-ambitious) which leads to a early-onset, progressive disorder called Sleeplessness which is a sort of early bird invitation to a range of disorders that are usually late-onset, but due to this lucrative invitation, they pop up quite early and show a diverse array of pleiotropic effects ranging from – Lack of concentration, physical & mental stress to Alzheimer’s’ and what not!

Ever heard about Melatonin? It is a natural hormone made by your body’s pineal gland in your brain. During the day the pineal is inactive. When the sun goes down and darkness occurs, the pineal is “turned on” by the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and it begins to produce melatonin actively, which is subsequently released into the blood. Usually, this occurs around 9 pm. As a result, melatonin levels in the blood rise sharply and you begin to feel less alert. Sleep becomes more inviting. Melatonin levels in the blood stay elevated for about 12 hours – all through the night – before the light of a new day when they fall back to low daytime levels by about 9 am. This is a part of what you might have heard – Circadian rhythms (Neurosci. Let. 1996, 218; 3, 181-184). 

Now, in case of our newly evolved species – Studentiana Night-owl-iana, the tubelight or the lamp at the study table directly inhibits the release of melatonin which is only released in the dark. Even if the pineal gland is switched “on” by the circadian clock, it will not produce melatonin unless the person is in a dimly lit or dark environment.

Melatonin has strong antioxidant effects, helping us to battle the daily wear and tear effects of free-radicals and thereby slow cellular aging. People with low melatonin over a certain period of time eventually begin to show signs of wear and tear, often taking the form of the common sleep deprivation symptoms of irritability, and poor concentration. Chronic cases may lead to high blood pressure, depression, bipolar disorders, Alzheimer’s, premature aging, and diabetes (Biol. Signals Recept. 1999 Jan-Apr; 8(1-2):126-31 & J. Pineal Res., 40; 2, 2006, 168-176).

What really bothers me is that chronic sleeplessness may be reflected genetically in generations to come. This is certainly one of the points many young adults who are, what I would say – on the verge of being a part of genetic crosses, are unaware of! The study, authored by Xianchen Liu, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, that will be presented on June 12 at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) says that a history of chronic sleeplessness in parents is not only associated with elevated risk for insomnia but also with elevated risks for use of hypnotics, psychopathology and suicidal behavior in their adolescent offsprings! (Insomnia In Parents Can Result In Sleep Problems, Suicidal Behavior Among Their Offspring. Liu et al, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2008 June 12) 

Few days back, a paper was published in Proteome Science which discusses biochemical changes induced by sleep deprivation at a proteomic level. In that, the authors studied 2D-DIGE profiles of the Hippocampus proteome of rats after 4 hours of sleep and sleep deprivation. Interestingly, they found that in the hippocampus proteome profile, 87 spots showed significant variation between sleep and sleep deprivation, with more proteins showing higher abundance in the latter case. It is worth mentioning here that the hippocampus is a part of the forebrain, located in the medial temporal lobe which belongs to the limbic system and plays major roles in short term memory. This was substantiated by the 12 identified proteins some of which are known to affect cellular functions including cell metabolism, energy pathways, transport and vesicle trafficking, cytoskeleton and protein processing. (Source: Proteome Science 2008, 6:14). Further, Sleep deprivation is known to inhibit adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus by elevating glucocorticoids (Source: PNAS, Dec 2006, 103:50).

So, please do not neglect the importance of sleep. Health is more important than anything else for if we even manage to get top marks that fetch us a dream job, or even a paper in one of those high impact journals, we still won’t be able to enjoy it if we are not well! 

Although I have complete faith in the Darwinian notions of survival of the fittest, as far as survival in this competitive world is concerned at least, however, I strongly believe that even if we take a chill pill and give due consideration to decompressing our minds and bodies, forgetting all the work for a while, voila’, we still survive! I am not suggesting bunking classes or escaping work at all. The point here is that we should manage our time in such a way that body’s natural mechanisms do not get affected.  That’s all! 

There are always 2 extreme coordinates where, like jack, we can choose to be:           

                 

Our goal should be to at neither of them, but right the in the middle of these coordinates, with some standard deviation allowed of course!

             

 

Mark:     

Liked the Post?