Short sleep duration increases salivary IL-6 production

ABSTRACT

Morning shift sleep restriction has been associated with higher plasma IL-6 levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sleep duration on salivary IL-6. Sleep duration of morning shift workers was estimated by actigraphy. Workers with “longer sleep duration” (LSD; N = 6) and “shorter sleep duration” (SSD; N = 15) were then compared regarding salivary IL-6 levels determined at 14:00 h, bed and wake times. SSD workers did not show daily variation of IL-6 and presented higher levels at bedtime and 14:00 h compared to LSD workers. In this study, SSD is associated with an increase in salivary IL-6 content.

KEYWORDS:

• Morning shifts
• salivary IL-6
• short sleep duration

Acknowledgements

We thank the research subject volunteers, the owners and administrators of the welding company, Prof Dr Mikko Härmä (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki), Nilson Silva Soares (School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, Brazil), and Eduardo Braga Fernandes (Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo).

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding

This work was financially supported from Fundacentro, FAPESP [grant number 2011/10503-4] and CAPES [grant number 8755-11/6].

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported from Fundacentro, FAPESP [grant number 2011/10503-4] and CAPES [grant number 8755-11/6].