Krause, A. J. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2021

Sleep Loss Impacts the Interconnected Brain-Body-Mood Regulation of Cardiovascular Function in Humans

Poor sleep is associated with hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease1,2. However, the mechanism(s) through which sleep loss impacts blood pressure remain largely unknown, including the inter-related brain and peripheral body systems that regulate vascular function3. In a repeated-measures experimental study of 66 healthy adult participants, we demonstrate four core findings addressing this question. First, a night of sleep loss significantly increased blood pressure--both systolic and diastolic, yet this change in vascular tone was independent of any increase in heart rate. Second, sleep loss compromised functional brain connectivity within regions that regulate vascular tone. Third, sleep-loss related changes in brain connectivity and vascular tone were significantly inter-dependent, with changes in brain nodes explaining the shift towards hypertension. Fourth, sleep-loss related changes in mood, specifically reductions in positive and amplification in negative states, each demonstrated an interaction with the impairments in brain connectivity and blood pressure. Together, these findings support an embodied framework in which sleep loss confers increased risk of cardiovascular disease through interactions between brain homeostatic control, mood-state and blood pressure.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Global trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services from 1900 to 2050

Despite the scientific consensus on the extinction crisis and its anthropogenic origin, the quantification of historical trends and of future scenarios of biodiversity and ecosystem services has been limited, due to the lack of inter-model comparisons and harmonized scenarios. Here, we present a multi-model analysis to assess the impacts of land-use and climate change from 1900 to 2050. During the 20th century provisioning services increased, but biodiversity and regulating services decreased. Similar trade-offs are projected for the coming decades, but they may be attenuated in a sustainability scenario. Future biodiversity loss from land-use change is projected to keep up with historical rates or reduce slightly, whereas losses due to climate change are projected to increase greatly. Renewed efforts are needed by governments to meet the 2050 vision of the Convention on Biological Diversity. One Sentence SummaryDevelopment pathways exist that allow for a reduction of the rates of biodiversity loss from land-use change and improvement in regulating services but climate change poses an increasing challenge.

ecology↗