The Sleep-Immune Crosstalk in Health and Disease

Abstract

Sleep and immunity are bidirectionally linked. Immune system activation alters sleep, and sleep in turn affects the innate and adaptive arm of our body’s defense system. Stimulation of the immune system by microbial challenges triggers an inflammatory response, which, depending on its magnitude and time course, can induce an increase in sleep duration and intensity, but also a disruption of sleep. Enhancement of sleep during an infection is assumed to feedback to the immune system to promote host defense. Indeed, sleep affects various immune parameters, is associated with a reduced infection risk, and can improve infection outcome and vaccination responses. The induction of a hormonal constellation that supports immune functions is one likely mechanism underlying the immune-supporting effects of sleep. In the absence of an infectious challenge, sleep appears to promote inflammatory homeostasis through effects on several inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines. This notion is supported by findings that prolonged sleep deficiency (e.g., short sleep duration, sleep disturbance) can lead to chronic, systemic low-grade inflammation and is associated with various diseases that have an inflammatory component, like diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurodegeneration. Here, we review available data on this regulatory sleep-immune crosstalk, point out methodological challenges, and suggest questions open for future research.

Seasonality of Respiratory Viral Infections

“…In addition to vaccines and antiviral drugs, nonpharmaceutical interventions to prevent respiratory infections are gaining attention. Lifestyle (eating healthy, sleeping more than 7 h/day) and hygiene practices (washing hands, wearing facemasks) are known to increase antimicrobial resistance and prevent transmission, respectively (118)(119)(120)(121). In addition to these measures, we might consider controlling the indoor environment to combat respiratory infections.…”

Daytime Exposure to Blue-Enriched Light Counters the Effects of Sleep Restriction on Cortisol, Testosterone, Alpha-Amylase and Executive Processes

“…The activity and reactivity of stress and immune systems depend on numerous environmental and individual factors, including the level of sleep debt (Besedovsky et al, 2012;Minkel et al, 2014). To limit the effects of this chronic sleep deprivation, napping (which can act as a stress-inhibiting factor) is emerging as one of the more obvious and efficient physiological countermeasures, but napping is not always transferable to the workplace (Faraut et al, 2015(Faraut et al, , 2017Besedovsky et al, 2019). Light exposure, aside from napping or in combination, could represent an alternative or complementary countermeasure and deserves to be further investigated in the context of sleep restriction.…”

Effects of Transport Conditions on Behavioural and Physiological Responses of Horses

“…Overnight travel is recommended during summer to minimise the effects of high ambient temperatures, but there are currently no studies on the effects of sleep deprivation due to transport in horses. As sleep deprivation in other species has been associated with altered immune function [37] and with impaired athletic performance [38,39], the physiological implications of travelling overnight warrant further evaluation.…”