Recent Updates on the Interrelationship between Sleep, Sleep Disorders and Some Neuroimmunological Diseases

Abstract

In the light of the above mentioned facts, it is proved that our brains are very active during sleep. Moreover, sleep affects our daily functioning and our physical and mental health in many ways that we are just beginning to understand. Nerve-signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Neurons in the brainstem, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurons at the base of the brain begin signaling when we fall asleep. Human sleep has been described as a succession of five recurring stages: four non- Rapid Eye Movement (non REM) stages and REM stage. Sleep and the circadian system exerts a strong regulatory influence on immune functions. Investigations of the normal sleep–wake cycle showed that immune parameters like numbers of undifferentiated naïve T cells and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines exhibit peaks during early nocturnal sleep whereas circulating numbers of immune cells with immediate effector functions, like cytotoxic natural killer cells, as well as anti-inflammatory cytokine activity peak during daytime wakefulness. There is an interrelationship between sleep and autoimmune neurological disorders and there are multiple sleep disturbances that are noticed in patients with these disorders.Sleepiness, fatigue, and sleep fragmentation are among the most frequent symptoms of acute and chronic inflammatory neurologic autoimmune disorders.