MSI Press Blog

  Probably, most people would not connect sleep deprivation and cancer, but some new research indicates there might be a connection. There appears to be as well a connection between sleep deprivation and obesity and between obesity and certain kinds of cancer.  According to various research projects, long-term sleep deprivation can affect the body's biological clock, which controls sleep and other functions, potentially raising the odds of cancers such as breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate. Night owls can be particularly at risk. Exposure to light during overnight shifts for several years can reduce levels of melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep and may also have a role in preventing cancer growth. Here are a couple of the websites:  Does Sleep Affect Cancer Risk? | American Cancer Society  and  How does being a night owl impact quality of life and why? . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and ...

  In one Star Trek episode, the crew cannot enter REM sleep -- and as a result, violence emergences. That episode is based on scientific research. And it explains a lot about caregiver burnout  and anger . When a spouse or other family member suffers from cancer, needs for care do not occur only during waking hours. Often, it feels like 24/7, and a family member who serves as caregiver can find himself or herself unable to react calmly in the face of chaos and immense stress . Sleep provides a time to renew emotional balance. Sleep deprivation leads to deprivation of balance, calm, perspective--and ultimately, emotional control. Here are some details about the relationship between sleep deprivation and anger  from the National Institute of Health. Here are some details about the relationship between sleep and mood from Harvard University research. And here is some evidence of the relationship between anger, aggression, hostility, and sleep deprivation , also from NIH....

  (diagram and contents of diagram from Beth Frates via Twitter) Literature gives suggestions for caregiver as if life is calm and caregivers are never angry or stressed out (implying that it is wrong to be so). The reality is that even in the best of circumstances, i.e. the existence of good support systems, caregivers do burn out . Thinking that other caregivers do not and that it is wrong to be angry or somehow even to instinctively respond with an unkind word or behavior is somehow is unique and makes one a bad person creates quite a guilt trip later.  In normal, circumstances, caregivers become sleep-deprived. Sleep deprivation leads NATURALLY to short tempers, frequent frustration, and, yes, bad decisions. Individuals' decisions that are made while sleep deprived cannot be thought of as intentional or well considered. At one point, I was so sleep-deprived that I fell asleep and drove off the road and into a field of cabbage (fortunately, I was not on a major highway), w...