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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> In other words, the cytokine may affect genes that, in turn, upset the body's normal sleep/wake rhythms -- the "biological clock." This circadian clock guides the daily cycle of alertness and fatigue that people typically feel when healthy, but TNF-alpha appears to help put this cycle into disarray.
According to the study, TNF-alpha activity also "impairs locomotor activity and induces increased rest periods in mice," Birchler noted.
From an evolutionary and survival standpoint, feeling listless and sleepy during short-term illness probably isn't such a bad thing, the Swiss expert said.
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"There's evidence that sleep is a helper for the fight against infections, and sleep deprivation leads to worsened immune response," Birchler explained. "From an evolutionary standpoint, fatigue -- by preventing the affected individual from joining social life -- may thereby hinder spread of infectious agents in the population," he added. "Fatigue in animals may be a mechanism which puts pressure on the affected animal to hide and thereby be protected from enemies."
Unfortunately, many patients can suffer from a chronic, unending form of fatigue, usually linked to long-term illness. That kind of tiredness is not useful, Birchler said, and is often the leading complaint of people battling disease.
"So, in the short term, illness-linked fatigue is an advantageous adaptation, but in the long term not necessarily so," said Wilfred Pigeon, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester, N.Y., and the director of the university's Sleep & Neurophysiology Research Laboratory.
Pigeon said the Swiss findings are intriguing and "point the way to some potential therapeutic targets" to help patients ease chronic fatigue. "We probably don't want to tinker with it in flu, for instance, but we may want to tinker with those targets for people who have some chronic illness or autoimmune diseases," he said.
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