“Physiology & Behavior,” an international scientific refereed journal, published a research article by American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) faculty members Dr. Colette S. Kabrita and Dr. Mohammad Fayyad-Kazan, and researcher at the Institute for Molecular Medicine at the University of Helsinki, Finland, Ms. Elissar Azzi, on the impact of sleep restriction and sleep disorders on metabolic health, studying a novel parameter of the issue and introducing new insights. The research article is the fruit of a collaborative research project initiated several years ago at Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) in Lebanon, and the three researchers collaborated on publishing the findings which will serve as a foundation for further research in the same field, also in collaboration among AUIB, NDU, and the University of Helsinki.
The biological processes of living organisms show rhythms that are regulated by these organisms’ biological clocks. Disruption in the timings of these biological functions in humans, arising from modern lifestyle habits that are in discord with nature, particularly with the daily light and dark cycle, are strongly correlated with numerous health disorders and diseases, notably metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and even cancer, in addition to heart diseases, neurological disorders, and a number of chronic illnesses. The research project monitored the level of two relevant metabolic parameters in the blood of a sample of healthy adult women at selected times of the day: these were the hormone leptin, also known as the satiety hormone, and its plasma receptor. This, according to Dr. Kabrita and Dr. Kazan, is a novelty among studies in the field. The two researchers believe that their findings open up new horizons for further exploration, and they hope that their research results would be capitalized on in advancing the management of metabolic diseases, in pharmaceutical and behavioral therapy, and also in prevention.
The article may be accessed via the following link:
Characterization of circulating leptin-receptor levels following acute sleep restriction: A pilot study on healthy adult females – ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003193842400088X?via%3Dihub