アルコールは体内時計に影響 ― circadian

お酒好きの人にはやや耳の痛い話かもしれませんが、飲酒癖は体内時計に影響しますよ、という記事です。

Chronic drinking can disrupt production of the genes that control the body's daily biological (circadian) rhythms, leading to problems such as sleep disruption and mood changes, new research reports. 

The researchers compared blood samples from 22 male alcoholics and 12 healthy men and found that the circadian clock genes in the alcoholic patients had significantly lower levels of an RNA molecule (known as messenger ribonucleic acid) that helps to manufacture proteins. 

This indicates that alcoholics have lower levels of circadian clock gene production (or what researchers call "expression"), according to the study published online and in the November print issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. 

"In other words, chronic alcohol consumption was associated with a destruction of normal circadian clock gene expression. This altered expression is closely related to circadian rhythm dysfunction and might link to a variety of physiological problems, such as sleep/wake cycle dysregulation, depression, and even cancer," study corresponding author Sy-Jye Leu, a researcher at Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, said in a journal news release.

(Chronic Drinking Linked to Circadian Disruptions. Bloomberg Businessweek. August 25, 2010.) 

 引用記事に頻繁に出てくる今日の単語、"circadian"ですが、ラテン語で、 "circa"（約、おおよそ）＋"dies"（日、一日） に由来しており、“おおよそ1日の”、つまり24時間周期の、という意味合いです。

焼酎を飲みながらこれを書いている私は、そういえば最近眠りが浅いかも・・・、と不安になってきました。