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Updated: Jun 29, 2025

Parallel Measurement of Circadian Clock Gene Expression and Hormone Secretion in Human Primary Cell Cultures
Published on: November 11, 2016
[Insomnia and the biological clock]
Damien Léger1, Alexandre Rouen1, Marie-Françoise Vecchierini1
1Université Paris-Cité, VIFASOM (Vigilance, fatigue, sommeil et santé publique), ERC 7330, Paris, France. Hôtel-Dieu, AP-HP, centre du sommeil et de la vigilance et consultation de ressources en pathologies professionnelles (sommeil, vigilance et travail), DMU Thoros, Paris, France.
Abstract:
INSOMNIA AND THE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK. Multiple physiological and biological rhythms known as «circadian» are generated by the biological clock that controls them within the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus. However, the most emblematic circadian rhythm is that of sleep and awakening. It is therefore crucial to check how the clock may be involved in chronic insomnia. What is the influence of the clock on the time and quality of sleep? What are the typical clock disorders that explain insomnia in adolescents, shift and night workers, the elderly and the blind individuals? What are the tools to recommend in general and specialized medicine in the evaluation of the clock in insomnia? What influence finally of the light on the clock and the light therapy to recommend? So many questions and elements of understanding often-poorly known of chronic insomnia.
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