Through research over the last two decades, the impact of sleep on brain, immune, cardiovascular and hormonal functions has become increasingly
apparent.
"Because the accumulation of toxic proteins such as beta amyloid and tau in the brain are associated with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers have speculated that impairment of the glymphatic system due to disrupted sleep could be a driver of the disease," the article says.
Another novel study from URMC linked sleep and microglia cells,
Also in this issue
February Member of the Month: Nigel Harrison
Research Report: Arterial Stiffness & the Gut Microbiome
Policy & Advocacy: FDA's Hormone Attack
Trending News in Integrative Medicine
Upcoming ACAM Education
which play a role in connections between nerve cells, fighting infections and repairing damage. The study indicates that the signals in our brain that modulate the sleep and awake state also act as a switch that turns the immune system on and off.
"This work suggests that the enhanced remodeling of neural circuits and repair of lesions during sleep may be mediated in part by the ability of microglia to dynamically interact with the brain," said Rianne Stowell, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at URMC and first author
of the paper.
Sleep has also been linked to the proper function of T cells as part of the body's immune response, hormones that influence glucose regulation and appetite control, and atherosclerosis of the cardiovascular system.
Findings suggest that sleep therapy or other methods to boost quality of sleep for at-risk populations may be a potential clinical approach for treatment, a topic that will be discussed in detail at the 2020 Collaboration Cures meeting this November.
February Member of the Month
Dr. Harrison began his medical training at Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in London. He trained while in the Royal Air Force and has worked in the Isle of Man and New Zealand.
"I consider myself to be an holistic cardiologist and physician, with a mind that is open to the use of various complimentary therapies for which there is evidence of benefit."
Dr. Harrison is a strong proponent of nutrition as medicine and recently became certified in Chelation Therapy through ACAM. He plans to share what he learned.
"It is important that my colleagues appreciate that we do have something else to offer for those with symptomatic vascular disease in whom revascularization
options are exhausted or medical therapy isn’t the answer. "
Research Report: Arterial Stiffness & the Gut Microbiome
Arterial stiffness is a measurement of vascular aging that only weakly relates to conventional cardiovascular risk
factors, but is an independent predictor of major cardiovascular events—especially in patients with metabolic syndrome. In a study published in the European Heart Journal in 2018, researchers aimed to determine whether gut microbial composition was associated with arterial stiffness.
The authors of this study conclude that a proportion of cardiovascular risk not explained by traditional risk factors might be captured by characterizing the gut microbiome and may help identify more patients at risk of major cardiovascular events.
View the details of the study and references HERE.
Policy & Advocacy: FDA's Hormone Attack
The FDA has accepted nominations to its "Demonstrably Difficult to Compound" (DDC) list, which is supposed to identify drugs that cannot safely be compounded because of their complexity. Included on this list are certain kinds of safe, bioidentical hormones such as progesterone (including progesterone with estradiol) and estriol.
This is extremely disconcerting. Compounding pharmacists say these bioidentical hormones are not difficult to compound and are not dangerous. A review of the clinical literature concluded that bioidentical hormones are associated with lower risks, including the risk of breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, and are more effective than synthetic or animal-derived hormones.
Our partner, The Alliance for
Natural Health, explains why there is no reason for the FDA or its Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) to eliminate consumer access to these medications--particularly estriol, for which there is no commercially available drug.
Learn more about this issue here, then write to Congress and the FDA, telling them to protect patient access to compounded bioidentical hormones.