New study finds daylight can help the immune system fight infections
University professor weighs in on the study, while highlighting the importance of sleep for health...
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Amy MacIver (standing in for CapeTalk's John Maytham) speaks to Professor Elizabeth Mayne, a specialist haematologist and immunopathologist at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Listen below:
A recent study published in Science Immunology, led by researchers at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, has found that daylight can help the immune system fight infections better.
The researchers discovered that neutrophils — the most common type of white blood cell — are better at killing bacteria during the day. This is because they have an internal clock that responds to light, known as a circadian clock.
To study this, the team used zebrafish, a small freshwater fish with genes similar to humans. Zebrafish are useful in research because they can be made transparent, allowing scientists to watch how their cells behave in real time.
Most cells in the body have circadian clocks that help them keep track of the time of day and control their activities. Light plays the biggest role in setting these clocks.
Now, researchers are trying to learn more about exactly how light affects the circadian clock in neutrophils.
Mayne weighs in on the study...
"I want to put a different spin on that and say getting out in the daylight is important, but when we talk about circadian rhythms, we're also talking about how important it is to sleep and have those eight hours you need to have in order to be healthy every day..."
- Professor Elizabeth Mayne, Specialist Haematologist & Immunopathologist - UCT
"One of the things in the study that they talk about is this idea of social jet lag... the science is catching up with what we've suspected all along - that human beings are designed to sleep when it's dark and live when it's daylight."
- Professor Elizabeth Mayne, Specialist Haematologist & Immunopathologist - UCT
"You need to rest, not just because, otherwise, you won't operate at your optimal capacity but actually, your immune system and various other systems in your body take the brunt of that lack of sleep and lack of listening to what your body is telling you to do."
- Professor Elizabeth Mayne, Specialist Haematologist & Immunopathologist - UCT
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