TITLE:
Can the early bird catch the worm? Effects of early rising on leukocyte subsets via modification of autonomic nervous system and the effect on glucose levels
AUTHORS:
Mayumi Watanabe, Yiwei Ling, Chikako Tomiyama, Kiyoshi Adachi, Hidetoshi Mori, Kazushi Nishijo, Toru Abo, Kohei Akazawa
KEYWORDS:
Early Rising; Leukocyte; Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.5 No.11,
November
4,
2013
ABSTRACT:
The importance of sleep has been described in proverbs
such as “the early bird catches the worm”. However, there are few scientific
reports on the effects of early rising. Therefore, early risers (Group E) and
late risers (Group L) were compared and the number and ratio of leukocytes,
body temperature, glucose and its associated hormones were studied.
Furthermore, each group was divided into two groups by the duration of sleep
and the following four groups were compared: early risers with short sleep
(Group E-S); early risers with long sleep (Group E-L); late risers with short
sleep (Group L-S); and late risers with long sleep (Group L-L). Then, compared
with Group L, Group E showed lower numbers and ratio of granulocytes and a
higher ratio of lymphocytes showing parasympathetic nerve dominance. Group E
showed higher levels of glucose and its related hormones than Group L,
indicating sympathetic nerve dominance. Compared with Groups E-S and L-S,
Groups E-L and L-L showed lower glucose and cortisol levels, respectively.
These results indicated that early rising might affect leukocyte subsets, and
adequate duration of sleep could decrease levels of glucose via modification
of the autonomic nervous system.