https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03491-2 Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Advertisement Advertisement Nature * View all journals * Search * Log in * Explore content * About the journal * Publish with us * Subscribe * Sign up for alerts * RSS feed 1. nature 2. news 3. article The brain summons deep sleep for healing from life-threatening injury Download PDF * NEWS * 30 October 2024 The brain summons deep sleep for healing from life-threatening injury A heart attack unleashes immune cells that stimulate sleep neurons, leading to restorative slumber. By * Mariana Lenharo^0 1. Mariana Lenharo 1. Mariana Lenharo is a news reporter for Nature based in New York City. View author publications You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar * Twitter * Facebook * Email You have full access to this article via your institution. Download PDF Download PDF A woman lies in bed asleep with sunlight shining on her face Ample sleep after a heart attack dampens inflammation in the organ, aiding recovery.Credit: Getty Immune cells rush to the brain and promote deep sleep after a heart attack, according to a new study^1 involving both mice and humans. This heavy slumber helps recovery by easing inflammation in the heart , the study found. The findings, published today in Nature, could help to guide care for people after a heart attack, says co-author Cameron McAlpine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, who studies immune function in the cardiovascular and nervous systems. "Getting sufficient sleep and rest after a heart attack is important for long-term healing of the heart," he notes. The implications of the study go beyond heart attack, says Rachel Rowe, a specialist in sleep and inflammation at the University of Colorado Boulder. "For any kind of injury, your body's natural response would be to help you sleep so your body can heal," she says. The heart needs its sleep Scientists have long known that sleep and cardiovascular health are linked. People who sleep poorly are at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure, for example, than are sound sleepers. But how cardiovascular disease affects sleep has been less explored. To learn more, the authors induced heart attacks in mice and investigated the animals' brainwaves. The researchers found that these mice spent much more time in slow-wave sleep -- a stage of deep sleep that has been associated with healing -- than did mice that hadn't had a heart attack. [d41586-024] Your brain could be controlling how sick you get -- and how you recover Next, the authors sought to understand what was causing that effect. One obvious place to look was the brain, which controls sleep, notes McAlpine. After a heart attack, immune cells trigger a massive burst of inflammation in the heart, he says, and the researchers wondered whether these immune changes also occurred in the brain. The team found that, after a mouse's heart attack, immune cells called monocytes flooded its brain. These cells produced large amounts of a protein called tumour necrosis factor (TNF), which is an important regulator of inflammation and also promotes sleep. To confirm that these cells were linked to the increased sleep, researchers prevented monocytes from accumulating in the rodents' brains. As a result, "the mice no longer had this increase in slow-wave sleep after their heart attack," McAlpine says, supporting the theory that the influx of monocytes to the brain contributes to the post-heart-attack sleep boost. Similar experiments confirmed TNF's role as a messenger to sleep-inducing brain cells. Slumbering towards recovery To understand the purpose of the extra sleep, the researchers repeatedly interrupted slow-wave sleep in mice that had had a heart attack. The team found that these mice had more inflammation in both the brain and the heart, and had a much worse prognosis than mice that were allowed to sleep undisturbed after a heart attack. [d41586-024] How the brain senses a flu infection -- and orders the body to rest The authors also studied humans who had experienced acute coronary syndrome, a term for conditions, including heart attack, that are caused by a sudden reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle. Those who reported poor sleep in the weeks following such an episode had a higher risk of developing heart attacks and other serious cardiovascular problems over the next two years than did those who were good sleepers. Given the findings, "clinicians need to inform patients of the importance of a good night's sleep" after a heart attack, says Rowe. This should also be considered at the hospital, where tests and procedures would ideally be conducted during the daytime to minimize sleep interruptions. She adds that the findings highlight the bidirectional relationship between sleep and the immune system. "When your grandma says, 'if you don't get enough sleep, you'll get sick', there's a lot of truth to that." Nature 635, 18 (2024) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03491-2 Read the related News & Views, 'Deep sleep helps the heart to heal' References 1. Huynh, P. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/ s41586-024-08100-w (2024). 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Download PDF Download PDF Related Articles * [d41586-024] Sleep deprivation disrupts memory: here's why * [d41586-024] How the stressed-out brain can weaken the immune system * [d41586-024] These cancer cells wake up when people sleep * [d41586-024] Inflammation in heart disease: do researchers know enough? Subjects * Cardiovascular biology * Immunology * Brain * Neuroscience Advertisement Sign up to Nature Briefing An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Email address [ ] [ ] Yes! Sign me up to receive the daily Nature Briefing email. I agree my information will be processed in accordance with the Nature and Springer Nature Limited Privacy Policy. Sign up Close Nature Briefing Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter -- what matters in science, free to your inbox daily. Email address [ ] Sign up [ ] I agree my information will be processed in accordance with the Nature and Springer Nature Limited Privacy Policy. 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