oxytocin and Sleep-Initiation-and-Maintenance-Disorders

Pregnancy is a unique physiologic state whose characteristics often predispose women to new-onset sleep disturbances or exacerbations of preexisting sleep disorders. Pregnancy-related factors that can disrupt sleep include heartburn, nocturnal oxytocin secretion, nocturia, and fetal movement. Sleep disorders in pregnancy include insomnia (primary and secondary), restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.

Topics: Female; Humans; Narcolepsy; Oxytocin; Pregnancy; Restless Legs Syndrome; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders

Sleep is a critical health behavior and one that is typically shared between husbands and wives or romantic partners. However, the science of sleep has traditionally conceptualized and evaluated sleep at the level of the individual. Considering the social context of sleep represents a significant shift in sleep research and also offers a critical opportunity for investigating sleep as a novel pathway linking close relationships with health. The purpose of this review is to integrate research that focuses on how sleep affects or is affected by close relationship functioning and to provide a heuristic framework for understanding the interface between close relationships, sleep, and health. Exploring the links between close relationships and sleep may contribute to our understanding of why some relationships confer health benefits, whereas others confer health risks.

Topics: Adult; Biological Clocks; Family Conflict; Female; Health; Health Behavior; Humans; Male; Marriage; Oxytocin; Sleep; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders; Spouses

Topics: Anorexia; Arousal; Brain Mapping; Circadian Rhythm; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; Depression; Glucocorticoids; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Hypothalamic Hormones; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System; Hypothalamus; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological; Mood Disorders; Neuropsychological Tests; Neurotransmitter Agents; Oxytocin; Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus; Phototherapy; Pituitary-Adrenal System; Prefrontal Cortex; Receptors, Glucocorticoid; Receptors, Neurotransmitter; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Stress, Physiological; Stroke; Thyroid Gland; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; Vasopressins

Weighted blankets have emerged as a potential non-pharmacological intervention to ease conditions such as insomnia and anxiety. Despite a lack of experimental evidence, these alleged effects are frequently attributed to a reduced activity of the endogenous stress systems and an increased release of hormones such as oxytocin and melatonin. Thus, the aim of the present in-laboratory crossover study (26 young and healthy participants, including 15 men and 11 women) was to investigate if using a weighted blanket (~12% of body weight) at bedtime resulted in higher salivary concentrations of melatonin and oxytocin compared with a light blanket (~2.4% of body weight). We also examined possible differences in salivary concentrations of the stress hormone cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase activity (as an indicative metric of sympathetic nervous system activity), subjective sleepiness, and sleep duration. When using a weighted blanket, the 1 hour increase of salivary melatonin from baseline (i.e., 22:00) to lights off (i.e., 23:00) was about 32% higher (p = 0.011). No other significant differences were found between the blanket conditions, including subjective sleepiness and total sleep duration. Our study is the first to suggest that using a weighted blanket may result in a more significant release of melatonin at bedtime. Future studies should investigate whether the stimulatory effect on melatonin secretion is observed on a nightly basis when frequently using a weighted blanket over weeks to months. It remains to be determined whether the observed increase in melatonin may be therapeutically relevant for the previously described effects of the weighted blanket on insomnia and anxiety.

Topics: Adult; Body Weight; Circadian Rhythm; Cross-Over Studies; Female; Humans; Male; Melatonin; Oxytocin; Sleep; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Sleepiness

To explore the proteomic changes in the hypothalamus of rats treated with Mongolian medical warm acupuncture for insomnia therapy based proteomics.. We used an iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomic approach to identify proteins that potential molecular mechanisms involved in the treatment of insomnia by Mongolian medical warm acupuncture.. In total, 7477 proteins were identified, of which 36 proteins showed increased levels and 45 proteins showed decreased levels in insomnia model group (M) compared with healthy control group (C), 72 proteins showed increased levels and 44 proteins showed decreased levels from the warm acupuncture treated insomnia group (W) compared with healthy controls (C), 28 proteins showed increased levels and 17 proteins showed decreased levels from the warm acupuncture-treated insomnia group (W) compared with insomnia model group (M). Compared with healthy control groups, warm acupuncture-treated insomnia group showed obvious recovered. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that up-regulation of neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction and oxytocin signaling was the most significantly elevated regulate process of Mongolian medical warm acupuncture treatment for insomnia. Proteins showed that increased/decreased expression in the warm acupuncture-treated insomnia group included Prolargin (PRELP), NMDA receptor synaptonuclear-signaling and neuronal migration factor (NSMF), Transmembrane protein 41B (TMEM41B) and Microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B) to adjust insomnia.. A combination of findings in the present study suggest that warm acupuncture treatment is efficacious in improving sleep by regulating the protein expression process in an experimental rat model and may be of potential benefit in treating insomnia patients with the added advantage with no adverse effects.

Topics: Acupuncture Therapy; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Extracellular Matrix Proteins; Fenclonine; Humans; Hypothalamus; Male; Medicine, Mongolian Traditional; Microtubule-Associated Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Oxytocin; Proteomics; Rats; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Up-Regulation