News and Document archive source
copyrighted material disclaimer at bottom of page

NewsMinenature-healthhealthcancer — Viewing Item


Good night sleep fights cancer

Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001060734.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001060734.htm

Source: Stanford University Medical Center
Date: 2003-10-01

Stanford Research Builds Link Between Sleep, Cancer Progression
STANFORD, Calif. - A good night's sleep may be one weapon in the fight against cancer, according to researchers at Stanford University Medical Center. Their work is among the first to piece together the link between mental well-being and cancer recovery.

Previous studies have found people with cancer who go through group therapy or have a strong social network fare better than those with weaker social support. The question has been how psychosocial factors exert their influence on cancer cells. David Spiegel, MD, the Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor in the School of Medicine, and Sandra Sephton, PhD, Spiegel's former postdoctoral fellow now at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, suggest that a person's sleep/wake cycle might be the connection. Their work will be published in the October issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

"Psychosocial factors affect your behavior patterns, such as exercise, what you eat and drink, and your sleep," Spiegel said. Of these factors, how well you sleep can seriously alter the balance of hormones in your body. This makes the sleep/wake cycle, also called the circadian rhythm, a good candidate for linking a person's social network to their cancer prognosis.

Spiegel suggested two possible ways in which the circadian rhythm may influence cancer progression. The first involves a hormone called melatonin, which the brain churns out during sleep. Melatonin belongs to a class of compounds called anti-oxidants that mop up damaging free-radical compounds. With a disrupted circadian rhythm, the body produces less melatonin and the cell's DNA may be more prone to cancer-causing mutations.

Melatonin also slows the ovaries' production of estrogen. For many ovarian and breast tumors, estrogen spurs the cancerous cells to continue dividing. Shift workers who work through the night and produce less melatonin may therefore produce more cancer-activating estrogen, the researchers said.

The second link lies with a hormone called cortisol, which normally reaches peak levels at dawn then declines throughout the day. Cortisol is one of many hormones that help regulate immune system activity, including the activity of a group of immune cells called natural-killer cells that help the body battle cancer.

One study found that people who are at high risk of breast cancer have a shifted cortisol rhythm, suggesting that people whose cortisol cycle is thrown off by troubled sleep may also be more cancer-prone. In past work, Spiegel and his coworkers have found that women with breast cancer whose normal cortisol cycle is disrupted - with peak levels in the afternoon rather than at dawn - die earlier from the disease. Those women whose cortisol cycle was shifted also tended to sleep poorly, have lost a spouse or partner and have cancer-fighting branches of the immune system suppressed.

Other studies back up this theorized connection. Spiegel cited the recent finding that night-shift workers have a higher rate of breast cancer than women who sleep normal hours. What's more, mice whose circadian rhythm has been interrupted show much more rapid tumor growth than normal mice. Together, these studies led Spiegel to suspect that a poor night's sleep may be one link between a weak social network and a poorer cancer prognosis.

Spiegel said that although much remains to be learned about how the stress response system affects tumor growth, the current research draws a connection that doctors should heed. "I'd like people to reconceptualize cancer as a biological event that triggers stress responses affecting how the disease progresses," he said. Managing those stress responses by adopting healthy eating and exercise habits, getting a good night's sleep, and finding good emotional and social support, should be regarded as much a part of cancer treatment as chemotherapy or radiation, he said.

"Doctors should not just be fighting the tumor but helping the people with the disease to live with it," he said.

Stanford has a Cancer Supportive Care Program, directed by Spiegel, UC-San Francisco oncologist Ernest Rosenbaum, MD, and nurse Holly Gautier, that offers yoga, counseling, energy healing and other stress reduction classes for people with cancer. Spiegel said these types of services can help people with cancer maintain their emotional well- being, which could in turn help them sleep well and perhaps help their bodies better resist cancer growth.

"Although having cancer might be something to lose sleep over," Spiegel noted, "we'd rather help people regain the sleep and lose the cancer."

###

Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu.

This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Stanford University Medical Center.




starches
1mil new skin cancer { May 27 2003 }
20 cancer fighting foods to eat all summer
African american women higher breast cancer { December 7 2003 }
All types of alcohol raise cancer risk
Antibiotic use causes cancer
Asians get cancer when in america
Asians low cancer rate
Beta carotene supplements
Blacks more likely die cancer
Breast cancer link to use of antibiotics
Breast cancer risk reduced by exercise
Broccoli helps prevent cancer { April 20 2005 }
California sues mcdonalds and potato chips over cancer
Cancer broccoli { May 28 2002 }
Cancer causing drug found in british poultry { October 21 2004 }
Cancer causing pesticides living in our bodies { June 21 2005 }
Cancer deaths decline first time since 1930 { February 9 2006 }
Cancer french fries { July 3 2002 }
Car exhausts may cause child cancer
Carbohydrates could be linked to breast cancer { August 9 2004 }
Carcinogen sealed glass jar foods
Carrots help cut cancer risk
Curry fights cancer
Curry fights prostate cancer study says { January 17 2006 }
Curry shuts down melanoma cancer tumors
Diet alcohol linked to one third cancer cases { May 20 2004 }
Diet and tobacco account for most cancer
Diet responsible for half cancers says fox files [wav]
Doctor in africa discovers western diet is cancerous { February 28 1911 }
Eating red meat increases risk of colon cancer
Eu beef cancer { May 4 1999 }
Fatty diet linked to cancer { March 21 2007 }
Garlic wards off cancer
Good night sleep fights cancer
Green tea cuts risk of cancer
Green tea reduces risk prostate cancer
Hair dyes linked to kind of cancer { January 24 2004 }
High fat diet increases breast cancer risk
High fat linked breast cancer { July 18 2003 }
High fiber reduces colon cancer { May 2 2003 }
High sugar diet linked to cancer { March 21 2007 }
Hormones in milk are linked to cancer
Meat and alcohol cause breast cancer
Meats and sweets boost cancer risk { July 10 2007 }
Microwaving plastic causes cancer in foods
Milk cause of cancer
Miso soup cuts breast cancer { June 18 2003 }
More causes cancer
Natural solutions for estrogen
New study says sun screen ineffective { June 15 2006 }
Nonfat milk linked to prostate cancer
Obesity linked to cancer { January 9 2006 }
One third cancer caused by diet
Pill linked to cancer { April 3 2003 }
Processed meats raise risk of cancer
Prostate testing debate
Red meat cancer { April 30 1996 }
Red meat diets cause cancer { April 7 2004 }
Red meat fuels bowel cancer risk { June 15 2005 }
Redheads risk of skin cancer without burns { August 29 2005 }
Regular aspirin use linked to cancer cases { January 9 2004 }
Study links breast cancer to antibiotic use { February 16 2004 }
Sun exposure may aid skin cancer victims { February 2 2005 }
Sunlight vit d prevents breast colon lung prostate cancer
Sunscreen blamed skin cancer
Sunscreens fails to prevent free radicals
Sunshine helps fight against breast cancer { August 4 2007 }
Sunshine may protect prostate from cancer { June 15 2005 }
Tea may fight ovarian cancer
Toxin in pet food eaten by chickens fed to people { May 4 2007 }
Toxins in the kitchen { May 4 2007 }
Vegetables and soy combats cancer
Vegetarian diet helps man fight cancer { June 7 2007 }
Vitamins tied to prostate cancer
Western asians higher cancer than eastern { June 1 2001 }
White wine increase risk of cancer
Women double risk for lung cancer { December 2 2003 }
Women plagued by lung cancer

Files Listed: 78



Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security
Archives
Support one-state solution for Israel and Palestine Tea Party bumper stickers JFK for Dummies, The Assassination made simple