Medical Insurance News: Body clock linked to immune system

Your chances of getting a disease of infection could be impacted on by the time of the day, it has been claimed.

According to researchers in the United States, the way your body clock changes during the course of a day affects proteins which help to provide immunity to ailments.

Professor Erol Fikrig, who lead the study at Yale University, said that all living creatures, whether they are humans, animals, plants or even bacteria, go through a 24-hour routine called the Circadian Rhythm.

When this rhythm is knocked out of kilter, it can make changes to the immune system , heightening the risk of catching a disease.

Researchers at the US educational institute have been investigating the Toll-like receptor nine (TLR9), which helps the body identify DNA from bacteria and virus using tests on mice.

The tests uncovered that the amount of TLR9 produced and how the body clock controls it varies at differing times during the day.

According to the boffins, people are at more risk of sepsis and blood poisoning between the hours of 2am and 6am.

“People intuitively know that when their sleep patterns are disturbed, they are more likely to get sick,” professor Fikrig stated.

“It does appear that disruptions of the circadian clock influence our susceptibility to pathogens.”

He added: “Sleep patterns of patients in intensive care are often disrupted because of the noise and prolonged exposure to artificial light. It will be important to investigate how these factors influence immune system response.”

In 2009 a Japanese team of researchers found that there is a link between the body clock and a person’s risk of suffering from heart disease.

The study, which was published online in the Natural Medical journal, said that people who have a history of sleep related disorders are more likely to suffer from hyper-tension and that is a leading cause of cardiovascular problems.