Effects of circadian rhythms on autoimmune disease

Circadian rhythms are generated by the body clock, allowing human to anticipate and respond to the 24-hour cycle of the planet. Maintaining a good body clock is generally believed to lead to good health for humans, and disrupting the circadian rhythm-or example, working night shifts has been associated with immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis; however, the underlying molecular links have been unclear.

Immune responses and regulation of autoimmunity are affected by the time of the day when the immune response is activated. Using mice as a model organism, they show that a master circadian gene, BMAL1, is responsible for sensing and acting on time-of-the-day cues to suppress inflammation.

Loss of BMAL1, or induction of autoimmunity at midday instead of midnight, causes more severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, which is essentially an analogue of multiple sclerosis in mice. Immune system is programmed to respond better to infection and insults encountered at different immune in the 24-hour clock.

This has significant implications for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases and suggests there may be important differences in time of day response to drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Disruption of human body clocks, which is quite common now given our 24/7 lifestyle and erratic eating and sleeping patterns, may have an impact on autoimmune conditions.
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Dangers of disrupting body clock

Body clock regulates day and night cycle that guides sleep and eating patterns and hormones. Nature can have serious consequences ranging from impulsive behaviour to life-threatening conditions such as obesity and cancer if the body clock is disrupted.

Human body can not adapt to operating outside the normal cycle of working by day, and sleeping at night. Shift workers' biological clocks are set by the rising and setting of the sun. There is no drug for speed up or slow down of body clock.

When workers force themselves to stay awake, it triggers the release of stress hormones such as cortisol- the hormone release into the blood in a life-or-death situation. Cortisol works to suppress the immune system and in the long run increases the risk of illnesses.

Working when you are supposed to sleep also opens you up to eating outside of normal times, when the body's metabolism might be lower and the calories are more likely to be converted into fat instead of being burnt up.

Short time disruptions of the circadian clock can wreak havoc within the body-raising heart rate, raising blood pressure and insulin levels. Circadian dysfunction has been linked to depression, bipolar disorder, cognitive function, memory formation and some neurological diseases.

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Light from digital devices reduces sleep quality

Blue light increases alertness and regulates our internal body clock. This artificial light activates photoreceptors known as intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells ipRGCs, which suppresses melatonin.

The blue light emitted from digital devices could contribute to the high prevalence of sleep dysfunction, it contributes to decrease in sleep quality.

Study participants wore short wavelength-blocking glasses three hours before bedtime for two weeks, while still performing their nightly digital routine.

Results showed that some of the participants melatonin levels increase. Melatonin is a chemical that gives body signals to sleep.

Wearing activity and sleep monitors 24 hours a day increases sleep duration.
The largest source of blue light is sunlight, it's also found in most LED-based devices like computers, mobile phones and television.

Limiting screen time, applying screen filters, wearing computer glasses that block blue light, or using anti-reflective lenses to reduce the effects of artificial light at nighttime can prevent the effects of blue light.
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