ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2009
How (and why) the immune system makes us sleep.
Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 322 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
322 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 702 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of sleep loss on pain-New conceptual and mechanistic avenues.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Longitudinal changes in sleep quality in male patients with alcohol dependence receiving far-infrared ray therapy: associations with alterations in circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Effects of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid on the inflammatory response to experimental sleep restriction in healthy humans.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2024Trial
- Assessing the effect of a mind-body exercise, qigong Baduanjin, on sleep disturbance among women experiencing intimate partner violence and possible mediating factors: a randomized-controlled trial.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2021Trial
- Probiotics, Anticipation Stress, and the Acute Immune Response to Night Shift.Frontiers in immunology · 2020Trial
- Resveratrol in Hepatitis C Patients Treated with Pegylated-Interferon-α-2b and Ribavirin Reduces Sleep Disturbance.Nutrients · 2017Trial
- The Sentinel Sleep Theory: Unweaving the biological function of REM sleep.Sleep medicine: X · 2026Article
- Sleep disturbance in patients undergoing shoulder surgery: a current concepts review.JSES reviews, reports, and techniques · 2026Review
- Microglia regulate sleep and thermoregulatory stability.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- A screen for stress-induced sleep genes in Caenorhabditis elegans reveals a role for glutamate signaling.Genetics · 2026Article
- Biological and Habitual Factors That Influence Sleep and Circadian Rhythm: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2026Review
- Neuronal inflammasomes: balancing immunity, neuroinflammation, and homeostasis.Trends in immunology · 2026Review
- Quercetin Ameliorates Comorbid Insomnia in Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome via the PI3K/AKT/NF-κB Signaling Pathway.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- The relationship between serum inflammatory cytokine levels and subjective sleep quality in chronic insomnia disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Beyond the Gut: A Case Report of Antibiotic-Induced Dysbiosis as a Hidden Cause of Chronic Insomnia.Cureus · 2026Article
- Cytokines in narcolepsy type 1: pathogenic relevance, biomarker potential, and future directions.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Review
- Acute sleep deprivation alters hypothalamic neuroinflammatory signaling independent of traumatic brain injury in the mouse.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota, Immune Phenotypes, and Insomnia: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2026Article
- Physical and mental load of tactical athletes during Arctic military training.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Insomnia in Women Surviving Breast and Gynecological Cancers-A Narrative Review to Address the Hormonal Factor.Cancers · 2025Review
262 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Good sleep is necessary for physical and mental health. For example, sleep loss impairs immune function, and sleep is altered during infection. Immune signalling molecules are present in the healthy brain, where they interact with neurochemical systems to contribute to the regulation of normal sleep. Animal studies have shown that interactions between immune signalling molecules (such as the cytokine interleukin 1) and brain neurochemical systems (such as the serotonin system) are amplified during infection, indicating that these interactions might underlie the changes in sleep that occur during infection. Why should the immune system cause us to sleep differently when we are sick? We propose that the alterations in sleep architecture during infection are exquisitely tailored to support the generation of fever, which in turn imparts survival value.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.