Hormonal
Short-term circadian misalignment (rapid 12-hour inversion of behavioral cycles) increases 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure and inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, resistin) in healthy adults, independent of sleep duration.
If you work night shifts or have an irregular schedule, your body's internal clock is likely misaligned with your behavior, raising your blood pressure and inflammation even if you sleep enough. To mitigate this, try to maintain consistent sleep/wake times as much as possible, expose yourself to bright light during your 'day' (even if it's night), and avoid heavy meals during your biological night. Recognizing that the *timing* itself is the stressor can help you prioritize schedule stability.
We demonstrate that circadian misalignment per se increases blood pressure and inflammatory markers. Our findings may help explain why shift work increases hypertension, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease risk.
Why this rating
Randomized, within-participant, cross-over design in a controlled laboratory setting provides high internal validity, though sample size is small (n=14 implied by 'relatively small' and standard for such protocols).
Source
Circadian misalignment increases cardiovascular disease risk factors in humans
Christopher J. Morris et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2016
DOI 10.1073/pnas.1516953113
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