Are Your Telomeres Tired?

April 17, 2015

Research shows that poor sleep quality leads to shorter telomeres and premature aging.

“Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together,” said the 17th-century writer Thomas Dekker. We all know that adequate and sufficient sleep is key to good health. But did you know that too little sleep or poor sleep quality can make you age faster?

Chronic lack of sleep is associated with a myriad of health conditions including obesity, depression, and asthma. So what is considered poor sleep? According to the National Sleep Foundation, seven to nine hours of quality sleep is recommended each night for adults (1). Despite this, approximately 35 percent of Americans report their sleep quality is “poor” or “fair.” While occasional sleeplessness, due to factors such as personal or job-related stress is expected, chronic, poor sleep patterns are increasingly considered a major factor for reduced health and quality of life.

But how exactly is sleep quality related to health? One reason may be due to how sleep affects telomeres. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of our chromosomes, that are a significant marker of cellular aging. As Isagenix Scientific Advisory Board member and telomere researcher Bill Andrews, Ph.D., says, “When telomeres shorten, bad things happen.” Indeed, previous research has linked shorter telomeres to poor sleep quality (2, 3).

Now, a recent study by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, including Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, have attempted to further characterize the relationship between sleep quality and telomere length, alongside another lifestyle factor implicated in telomere health—chronic stress.

This new study, published in the 2014 December issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (4) included 87 obese subjects (BMI=35.4; 82 percent female) and looked at sleep quality, self-reported stress levels, and telomere length from several immune cell types (the best targets for measuring telomere length). They found that poor sleep quality was closely associated with significantly shorter telomeres in most immune cell types.

In addition, the role of stress was examined and for individuals under higher stress, poor sleep quality and shorter telomeres were positively associated. The authors concluded that poorer sleep quality was related to telomere length and that this relationship may provide clues linking poor sleep quality to poor health outcomes in the obese individual.

Luckily, Isagenix can help individuals with poor sleep quality, unrelenting stress, and, of course, a clinically-validated Cleansing and Fat Burning System for weight management. First, under the leadership of another Isagenix Scientific Advisory Board member, nutritionist Dr. Michael Colgan, Isagenix has developed Sleep Support and Renewal™, which contains a fastacting melatonin formulation along with other calming ingredients such as valerian root and the amino acid L-theanine.

Next, for combating life’s daily stresses, Isagenix offers Ionix Supreme, a concentrated beverage full of adaptogenic herbs to improve stress management and reduce stress-induced fatigue along with the Adaptogen-rich, naturally sourced caffeinated e+ energy shot. Finally, for healthy, sustained weight loss and improved body composition, the 30-Day Cleansing and Fat Burning system has been shown in two independent studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Skidmore College to significantly reduce body weight, total body fat, and visceral fat.†

With Isagenix targeted solutions and weight management systems, you give your body the best chance at improving your sleep quality and “energizing” those telomeres. www.fatbgone.org

#telomeres #sleep #stress #adaptogens

†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

References

1. National Sleep Foundation. How sleep works: How much sleep do we really need? Available at: http://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need
2. Prather AA et al. Shorter leukocyte telomere length in midlife women with poor sleep quality. J Aging Res 2011;2011:721390.
3. Cribbet MR et al. Cellular aging and restorative processes: subjective sleep quality and duration moderate the association between age and telomere length in a sample of middle-aged and older adults. Sleep 37:65-70, 2014.
4. Prather AA et al. Tired telomeres: Poor global sleep quality, perceived stress, and telomere length in immune cell subsets in obese men and women. Brain Behav Immun 2014 Dec 20. pii: S0889-1591(14)00574-1. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.12.011. [Epub ahead of print].