Sleep and the liver's control of sugar

[repoman]

I was thinking about how sleep patterns effect how we eat and how healthy we are. I think that may be at the center of this. It is surprising how long we can go without eating when we sleep, even compared to laying down all day doing nothing. It also seems that the more steady the sleep pattern I have the less famished I feel waking up and the less I binge on food at night.

here is a somewhat related article (actually press release): http://www.salk.edu/news/pressrelease_details.php?press_id=553

During the day, humans burn glucose, derived from the food we eat. This is the fuel that supplies the muscles and other parts of the body expending energy. At night, when we sleep, we revert to stored fat as a source of very dependable but slowly released energy. But certain parts of the body, most notably the brain, require glucose as a source of energy, even when we fast.

Pancreatic islet cells control both sides of this energy equation. Located in the pancreas, they produce glucagon, a hormone released during fasting, to tell the liver to make glucose for use by the brain. This process is reversed when we feed, and when the pancreatic islets release insulin, which tells the liver to stop making glucose.

Thus glucagon and insulin are part of a feedback system designed to keep blood glucose at a stable level.

I also wonder how alcohol fits in. Maybe when you drink at night your liver can't store as much sugar since it is working to detox the alcohol.

 

[Rilx]

I also wonder how alcohol fits in. Maybe when you drink at night your liver can't store as much sugar since it is working to detox the alcohol.

Right cause, wrong effect. Alcohol prevents your liver releasing sugar. When you drink much alcohol, you'd better eat or drink something that contains carbohydrates or plain sugar.

 

[fromderinside]

I was thinking about how sleep patterns effect how we eat and how healthy we are. I think that may be at the center of this. It is surprising how long we can go without eating when we sleep, even compared to laying down all day doing nothing. It also seems that the more steady the sleep pattern I have the less famished I feel waking up and the less I binge on food at night.

There's a long history of study on energy, sugars, cellular restoration (the most recent) effects of sleep in the brain

A couple articles to contribute:

about glucose

Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/Fetcho/NBBjournalclub/warden-paperfull.pdf

and

about restoration

Suprachiasmatic GABAergic Inputs to the Paraventricular Nucleus Control Plasma Glucose Concentrations in the Rat via Sympathetic Innervation of the Liver
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/35/7604.long

As for health that seems to be a given since we're here and most chordates sleep.

Here is a good review of literature on the topic.

THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF SLEEP: GENETICS, CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY AND SUBCORTICAL NETWORKS http://neuroscience.mahidol.ac.th/intranet/2011/Allan Hobson_The Neurobiology of Sleep.pdf