sleep Archives - The Painful Truth

Congratulations to American Scientists Hall, Rosbash, and Young

Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young’s Genetic Discovery

Three American scientists, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young, jointly won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They earned the prestigious award for discovering the genes that control circadian rhythms.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute issued a press release that reads, “Their discoveries explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the Earth’s revolutions.” In other words, we’ve long known that human beings have biological clocks that are necessary for our good health and survival, but Hall, Rosbash, and Young were able to precisely identify the mechanisms of the “control center” for our internal clock.

Insomnia Is More Than an Inconvenience

“Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

‒William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Why We Need Sleep

Shakespeare may be complicated, but the universal need for sleep is not. The “Chief nourisher” is, indeed, a major function of sleep. It scavenges toxins produced during the wakeful hours which are literally “the death of each day’s life.” It results in “hurt minds” or damage that may be irreparable. Sleep scavenges and disposes of the poisons that allow the system to be revitalized with a “second course” or another day.

Cortisol and Your Body – What You Should Know

Jessica Hegg is the content manager at ViveHealth.com. Interested in all things related to living a healthy lifestyle, she works to share valuable information aimed at overcoming obstacles and improving the quality of life for others.

I hope you’ll find her article helpful. — Lynn R. Webster, MD

Ever wonder what’s really happening in your body when you are stressed? Stress, anxiety, feelings of frustration — these can all manifest with physical and mental effects including back pain, muscle tension, headaches, and mental fog, just to name a few. But what causes these bodily responses? Introducing our primary agent, cortisol – the stress hormone.

Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young’s Genetic Discovery

“Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

‒William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Why We Need Sleep

Jessica Hegg is the content manager at ViveHealth.com. Interested in all things related to living a healthy lifestyle, she works to share valuable information aimed at overcoming obstacles and improving the quality of life for others.

I hope you’ll find her article helpful. — Lynn R. Webster, MD

“Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”