Insufficient sleep and circadian rhythm disruption are associated with health problems including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairment. Analysis of blood RNA samples showed that after just one week, 711 genes are affected by insufficient sleep.
The affected genes were associated with circadian rhythms, sleep homeostasis, oxidative stress, and metabolism. Biological processes affected included chromatin modification, gene-expression regulation, macromolecular metabolism, and inflammatory, immune and stress responses.