Oncological aspects of sleep physiology and molecular biology of sleep

In the prevention of cancer, maintaining a proper sleep rhythm and consciously keeping the circadian rhythm intact plays a significant role. This can be explained by molecular biological processes, neurophysiological, energy-regulating, and hormonal processes, because sleep is not a passive process but an active state that occurs based on the daily activity determined by evolution for individual cells. The key stimulus for this is light, which affects the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the circadian oscillation that occurs as a result.

Today, we are beginning to understand and map the molecular biological processes underlying this, which are also related to tumor suppression mechanisms and anti-oncogenic processes.

In this first section, we will review the biological background processes. The second part will focus on therapeutic options.