Mild Sleep Deprivation Alters Hormonal Activity
 (San Francisco, Reuters Health, 6/24/02)

Dr. Alexandros Vgontvas and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health monitored 25 young adults who spent 12 consecutive days in a sleep lab. The researchers allowed study participants to sleep up to 8 hours a night for the first 4 nights, but only 6 hours per night thereafter. The scientists found that sleep-deprivation, in addition to hampering performance on a vigilance test, was associated with increases in the markers for inflammation. This association is important because other studies have linked chronic, low-level inflammation to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.