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Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Health, Function, and...
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Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Health, Function, and Behavior

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 27184

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ari Shechter

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Interests: sleep; circadian rhythms; behavioral medicine; cardiometabolic health; insomnia; shift work; light exposure; sleep apnea

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are organizing a Special Issue in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This Special Issue will focus on how disturbances in sleep and circadian rhythms impact human health, function, and behavior.

Sleep is an essential—though often neglected or overlooked—component of health and well-being. Disturbances in sleep and circadian rhythms (for example, as a result of sleep disorders, short sleep duration, shift work, delayed sleep and/or meal timing, nocturnal light exposure, etc.) can contribute to decreased quality of life, increased risk of cardio-metabolic and psychological disorders, compromised immune function, cancer, and neuro-cognitive impairment. We therefore invite observational or experimental original research, brief reports, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses to address these wide-ranging topics. We are particularly interested in work that considers the effects of sleep and circadian physiology, in combination, on these outcomes.

Examples of specific areas of interest for the Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  1. The effects of sleep and circadian rhythms on:
  • metabolism, food choice and intake, energy balance, physical activity, etc.
  • psycho-physiologic stress and cardiovascular health;
  1. The effects of shift work on lifestyle, and psychological and physical health;
  2. Nocturnal (blue) light exposure and sleep;
  3. Delayed sleep timing, social jetlag, and health/function;
  4. Countermeasures to lifestyle-related sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances.

Dr. Ari Shechter
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sleep;
  • circadian rhythms;
  • shift work;
  • light exposure;
  • fatigue;
  • lifestyle;
  • psychosocial;
  • health;
  • disease.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 30857 KiB  
Article
Effects of Sleep Deprivation by Olfactorily Induced Sexual Arousal Compared to Immobilization Stress and Manual Sleep Deprivation on Neuromessengers and Time Keeping Genes in the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei and Other Cerebral Entities of Syrian Hamsters—An Immunohistochemical Study
by Christian Knöchel, Hagen Frickmann and Frank Nürnberger
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(17), 9169; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph18179169 - 31 Aug 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2295
Abstract
We investigated the effects of sexual arousal induced by olfactory stimuli on the expression of neuromodulators, neurotransmitters and sexual steroid receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN, the circadian pacemaker of mammals) and other cerebral entities of Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) compared [...] Read more.
We investigated the effects of sexual arousal induced by olfactory stimuli on the expression of neuromodulators, neurotransmitters and sexual steroid receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN, the circadian pacemaker of mammals) and other cerebral entities of Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) compared to manual sleep deprivation and immobilization stress. The hamsters kept under a 12:12 hours (h) light:dark cycle were deprived of sleep by sexual stimulation, gentle manual handling or immobilization stress for 1 h at the beginning of the light phase and subsequently sacrificed at zeitgeber time 01:00, respectively; for comparison, hamsters were manually sleep deprived for 6 or 20 h or sacrificed after completing a full sleep phase. As demonstrated by immunohistochemistry, apart from various alterations after manual sleep deprivation, sexual stimulation caused down-regulation of arginine-vasopressin (AVP), vasointestinal peptide (VIP), serotonin (5-HT), substance P (SP), and met-enkephalin (ME) in the SCN. Somatostatin (SOM) was diminished in the medial periventricular nucleus (MPVN). In contrast, an increase in AVP was observed in the PVN, that of oxytocin (OXY) in the supraoptic nucleus (SON), of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH) in the infundibular nucleus (IN), and dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH) in the A7 neuron population of the brain stem (A7), respectively. Testosterone in plasma was increased. The results indicate that sexual arousal extensively influences the neuropeptide systems of the SCN, suggesting an involvement of the SCN in reproductive behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Health, Function, and Behavior)
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8 pages, 1168 KiB  
Communication
Perceptions of Light Pollution and its Impacts: Results of an Irish Citizen Science Survey
by Andrew N. Coogan, Michael Cleary-Gaffney, Megan Finnegan, Georgia McMillan, Ainhoa González and Brian Espey
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(15), 5628; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph17155628 - 04 Aug 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4780
Abstract
Background: Light pollution is increasingly an area of concern for health and quality of life research. Somewhat surprisingly, there are relatively few descriptions of perceptions of light pollution in the literature. The current study examined such perceptions in a Irish sample. Methods: A [...] Read more.
Background: Light pollution is increasingly an area of concern for health and quality of life research. Somewhat surprisingly, there are relatively few descriptions of perceptions of light pollution in the literature. The current study examined such perceptions in a Irish sample. Methods: A survey was circulated as part of a citizen science initiative of a national newspaper; the survey included questions regarding night sky brightness and the impact of light at night on sleep and animal behaviour. Complete responses from 462 respondents were analysed. Results: Urban location was, as anticipated, associated with reported brighter night skies, and public lighting was reported as the main source of light at night for urban settings, whilst neighbours’ domestic lighting was the most commonly reported source for rural settings. Respondents from rural settings were more likely to report that light at night impinged on sleep, whilst city dwellers were more likely to report recent changes in wildlife behaviour. Conclusions: Citizen science approaches may be useful in gathering data on public perceptions of light pollution and its impacts. In the current study, this perception was strongly influenced by location, highlighting the importance of assessing experiences and attitudes across a number of geographical settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Health, Function, and Behavior)
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11 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
Sleep Pattern Changes in Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown
by Cristina Romero-Blanco, Julián Rodríguez-Almagro, María Dolores Onieva-Zafra, María Laura Parra-Fernández, María del Carmen Prado-Laguna and Antonio Hernández-Martínez
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(14), 5222; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph17145222 - 20 Jul 2020
Cited by 109 | Viewed by 19375
Abstract
The prevalence of poor sleep quality among students is very high and, in nursing students, has been associated with reduced performance, behavioral changes, dietary changes, and even aggressive behavior due to changes in sleep patterns. The lockdown in response to COVID-19 may have [...] Read more.
The prevalence of poor sleep quality among students is very high and, in nursing students, has been associated with reduced performance, behavioral changes, dietary changes, and even aggressive behavior due to changes in sleep patterns. The lockdown in response to COVID-19 may have resulted in lifestyle changes that affected sleep quality. For this reason, the objective of this study is to determine the difference in nursing students’ sleep quality before and during the lockdown, put in place in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. To meet this objective, we conducted a longitudinal observational study on 207 nursing students, with two cut-off points (February and April). The main dependent variable was sleep quality, measured using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and its seven components. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used for paired and unpaired data, as well as group-stratified analysis. The mean time students spent in bed was 7.6 h (standard deviation (SD) = 1.1 h) before lockdown and 8.5 h (SD = 1.2 h) during lockdown. The PSQI score got 0.91 points worse during lockdown (95% CI, −0.51, −1.31). Of the five components, five were statistically significantly affected (p ≤ 0.05), and of these, the most changed were sleep latency, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency. When stratified by group, we observed differences in women, first-year students, second-year students, alcohol consumers, those of normal weight, and those that live with family. The main conclusion is that although students spent more time in bed, overall sleep quality was worse during lockdown, as well as being worse in five of the seven components. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Sleep and Circadian Rhythms on Health, Function, and Behavior)
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