Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream (37 page)

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men who reported the highest frequency:
G. D. Smith et al., "Sex and death: are they related? Findings from the Caerphilly cohort study,"
British Medical Journal
315, 1641–44 (1997); S. Ebrahim et al., "Sexual intercourse and risk of ischaemic stroke and coronary heart disease: the Caerphilly study,"
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
56, 99–102 (2002).
college students who have sexual intercourse:
C. J. Charnetski and F. X. Brennan, "Sexual frequency and immunoglobulin A (IgA)," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Providence, R.I., 1999.

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In a sample of sexually active college females:
G. Gallup et al., "Does semen have antidepressant properties?,"
Archives of Sexual Behavior
31:3, 289–93 (2002).
The scientists are quick to say:
R. Persaud, "Semen acts as an anti-depressant,"
New Scientist,
June 26, 2002,
www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2457.

11. NIGHT AIRS

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A sixteenth-century Italian priest:
Quoted in A. Roger Ekirch,
At Day's Close
(New York: Norton, 2005), 13.
many ills worsen at night:
The following discussion of circadian aspects of disease comes from M. H. Smolensky and M. L. Bing, "Chronobiology and chronotherapeutics in primary care,"
Patient Care
(Clinical Focus supp.), Summer 1997, 1–21; M. H. Smolensky et al., "Medical chronobiology: concepts and applications,"
American Review of Respiratory Disease
147:6 (part 2), S2–19; Michael Smolensky and Lynne Lamberg,
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health
(New York: Holt, 2000); Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life
(London: Profile Books, 2004), 212 f; G. A. Bjarnason and R. Jordan, "Rhythms in human gastrointestinal mucosa and skin,"
Chronobiology International
19:1, 129–40 (2002).
asthma attacks hundreds of times:
Foster and Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life,
224; R. J. Martin, "Small airway and alveolar tissue changes in nocturnal asthma,"
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
157:5, S188–90 (1998).
bronchial passageways that move air:
Martin, "Small airway and alveolar tissue changes in nocturnal asthma."

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adults get two to four colds a year:
F. Hayden, "Introduction: emerging importance of the rhinovirus,"
American Journal of Medicine
m:6A, 1s-3S (2002); J. M. Gwaltney, "Rhinoviruses," in A. S. Evans and R. A. Kaslow, eds.,
Viral Infection of Humans: Epidemiology and Control,
4th ed. (New York: Plenum Press, 1997), 815–38.
Researchers have carefully computed:
A. M. Fendrick, "The economic burden of non-influenza-related viral respiratory tract infection in the United States,"
Archives of Internal Medicine
163:4, 487–94 (2003).
The Greek philosopher Celsus wrote:
Celsus,
De Medicina,
vol. 2, ed. W. G. Spencer (London: W. Heinemann, 1938), 91.
Scientists persuaded one group:
H. F. Dowling et al., "Transmission of the common cold to volunteers under controlled conditions,"
American Journal of Hygiene
68, 659–65 (1958).
A decade later, a similar experiment:
R. G. Douglas et al., "Exposure to cold environment and rhinovirus common cold: failure to demonstrate effect,"
New England Journal of Medicine
279, 742–47 (1968).

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a new study offers some evidence:
C. Johnson and R. Eccles, "Acute cooling of the feet and the onset of common cold symptoms,"
Family Practice
22:6, 608–13 (2005).
However, say skeptics:
personal communication with J. Owen Hendley, February 2007.
That colds tend to flourish:
The following discussion of colds and cold viruses comes from an interview with Jack Gwaltney, March 8, 2004; J. M. Gwaltney, "Viral respiratory infection therapy: historical perspectives and current trials,"
American Journal of Medicine
m:6A, 33S-41S (2002).
Viruses are highly contagious bugs:
J. M. Gwaltney, "Clinical significance and pathogenesis of viral respiratory infections,"
American Journal of Medicine
112:6A, 13S-18S (2002). J. M. Harris and J. M. Gwaltney, "Incubation periods of experimental rhinovirus infection and illness,"
Clinical Infectious Diseases
23, 1287–90 (1996).
rhinoviruses survive and remain infectious:
J. M. Gwaltney and J. O. Hendley, "Rhinovirus transmission: one if by air, two if by hand,"
American Journal of Epidemiology
107, 357–61 (1978).
During only ten seconds of hand exposure:
J. M. Gwaltney et al., "Hand-to-hand transmission of rhinovirus colds,"
Annals of Internal Medicine
88:4, 463–67(1978).

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transmission could be interrupted:
J. M. Gwaltney, "Transmission of experimental rhinovirus infection by contaminated surfaces,"
American Journal of Epidemiology
116:5, 828–33 (1982); Arnold Monto, "Epidemiology of viral respiratory infections,"
American Journal of Medicine
112:6A, 4S-12S (2002).
These structures normally swell:
Donald Proctor and lb Andersen, eds.,
The Nose: Upper Airway Physiology and the Atmospheric Environment
(New York: Elsevier Biomedical Press, 1982), 203.
forceful nose-blowing may do:
J. M. Gwaltney et al., "Nose blowing propels nasal fluid into the paranasal sinuses,"
Clinical Infectious Diseases
30, 387–91 (2000).
If the tickle of mucus sufficiently:
L. Suranyi, "Localization of the 'sneeze center,'"
Neurology
57:1, 161 (2001).

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Coughing can achieve even greater powers:
R. S. Irwin et al., "Managing cough as a defense mechanism and a symptom: a consensus panel report of the American College of Chest Physicians,"
Chest
114 (supp. 2), 133S-81S (1998), www.chestjournal.org/cgi/reprint/114/2/133S.pdf.
Once considered a simple reflex:
S. B. Mazzone, "An overview of the sensory receptors regulating cough,"
Cough
1:2, DOI: 10.1186/1745-9974-1-2 (2005); J. G. Widdicombe, "Afferent receptors in the airways and cough,"
Respiratory Physiology
114, 5–15 (1998); S. B. Mazzone, "Sensory regulation of the cough reflex,"
Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapy
17, 361–68 (2004).
Runny nose, sneezing, cough:
The following discussion is from an interview with Gwaltney, March 8, 2004; B. Winther et al., "Viral-induced rhinitis,"
American Journal of Rhinology
12:1, 17–20 (1998).

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chronic stress, which has been linked:
S. Cohen et al., "Types of stressors that increase susceptibility to the common cold in healthy adults,"
Health Psychology
17:3, 214–23 (1998); J. M. Gwaltney and F. G. Hayden, "Psychological stress and the common cold,"
New England Journal of Medicine
325, 644 (1992).
not everyone exposed to a virus:
J. M. Gwaltney, "Clinical significance and pathogenesis of viral respiratory infections,"
American Journal of Medicine
112:6A, 13S-18S (2002).

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Antihistamines suppress sneezing:
P. S. Muether and J. M. Gwaltney, "Variant effect of first- and second-generation antihistamines as clues to their mechanism of action on the sneeze reflex in the common cold,"
Clinical Infectious Diseases
33, 1483–88 (2001).
A major review of nonprescription cough medicines:
Knut Schroeder and Tom Fahey, "Systematic review of randomised controlled trials of over the counter cough medicines for acute cough in adults,"
British Medical Journal
324, 329 (2002).
A century later, a popular remedy: Scientific American,
May 1895, quoted in
Scientific American,
May 1995, 10.
Gwaltney has been working:
J. M. Gwaltney et al., "Combined antiviral-antimediator treatment for the common cold,"
Journal of Infectious Diseases
186, 147–54 (2002); J. M. Gwaltney, "Viral respiratory infection therapy: historical perspectives and current trials,"
American Journal of Medicine
112:6A, 33S-41S (2002).

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Graphs of sneezing, stuffy nose:
A. C. Grant and E. P. Roter, "Circadian sneezing,"
Neurology
44:3, 369–75 (1994).
Cough frequency, too, shows a marked:
J. Kuhn et al., "Antitussive effect of guaifenesin in young adults with natural colds,"
Chest
82:6, 713–18 (1982).
Illnesses of many types are affected:
M. H. Smolensky et al., "Medical chronobiology: concepts and applications,"
American Review of Respiratory Disease
147:6 (part 2), S2-S19 (1993); Smolensky and Lamberg,
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health;
Foster and Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life,
212 f.
But as Smolensky points out:
Smolensky et al., "Medical chronobiology: concepts and applications."
A patient may be diagnosed as normal:
Y. Watanabe et al., "Thousands of blood pressure and heart rate measurements at fixed clock hours may mislead,"
Neuroendocrinology Letters
24:5, 339–40 (2003).
surveys suggest that physicians:
M. H. Smolensky, "Knowledge and attitudes of American physicians and public about medical chronobiology and chronotherapeutics. Findings of two 1996 Gallup surveys."
Chronobiology International
15, 377–94 (1998); Foster and Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life, 226.

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Though direct evidence of circadian modulation:
C. B. Green and J. S. Takahashi, "Xenobiotic metabolism in the fourth dimension: PARtners in time,"
Cell Metabolism
4:1, 3–4 (2006). Personal communication with Carla B. Green, October 2006.
Lidocaine ... relieved dental pain:
A. Reinberg and M. Reinberg, "Circadian changes of the duration of action of local anaesthetic agents,"
Nau-nyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology
297, 149–59 (1977).
On the other hand, a 2006 report showed:
M. C. Wright et al., "Time of day effects on the incidence of anesthetic adverse events,"
Quality and Safety in Health Care
15:4, 258–63 (2006).
Such time-of-day effects have been documented:
G. A. Bjarnason et al., "Circadian variation in the expression of cell-cycle proteins in human oral epithelium,"
American Journal of Pathology
154, 613–22 (1999).
The goal ... should be to balance:
Foster and Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life,
215.

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Many anticancer drugs:
Smolensky and Lamberg,
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health,
227–29. G. A. Bjarnason and R. Jordan, "Rhythms in human gastrointestinal mucosa and skin,"
Chronobiology International
19:1, 129–40 (2002); Foster and Kreitzman,
Rhythms of Life,
216–19.
Francis Levi believes:
The following discussion of Levi's work comes from his "Circadian interactions with cancer," presented at the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms annual meeting, Amelia Island, Florida, 2002; M. C. Mormont and F. Levi, "Cancer chronotherapy: principles, applications, and perspectives,"
Cancer
98:4, 881–82 (2003).
William Hrushesky ... has found that the cells:
K. Buchi et al., "Circadian rhythm of cellular proliferation in the human rectal mucosa,"
Gastroenterology
101, 410–15 (1991).

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Hrushesky published a study on the timing:
W. Hrushesky, "Circadian timing of cancer chemotherapy,"
Science
228, 73–75 (1985). Similar results have been found by researchers studying childhood leukemia. In a trial involving 118 children with acute leukemia, those who received medications in the late afternoon or evening were three times more likely to have had their cancer go into remission than those treated in the morning. G. E. Rivard et al., "Circadian time-dependent response of childhood lymphoblastic leukemia to chemotherapy: a long-term follow-up study of survival,"
Chronobiology International
10, 201–4 (1993).
Francis Lévi has had similar success:
F. Levi et al., "Chronotherapy of colorectal cancer metastases,"
Hepatogastroenterology
48, 320–22 (2001).

12. SLEEP

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"
Sleep is the most moronic":
Vladimir Nabokov,
Speak, Memory
(New York: Vintage, 1989), 108.
The brain is hardly "absent":
The following material on sleep is from Jerome M. Siegel, "The phylogeny of sleep," presented at the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms annual meeting, Amelia Island, Florida, 2002 (hereafter, SRBR meeting, 2002); personal communication with Jerome Siegel, February 15, 2005; J. M. Siegel, "Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep,"
Nature
437, 1264–71 (2005).

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Even during deep sleep:
J. A. Hobson, "Sleep is of the brain, by the brain, and for the brain,"
Nature
437, 1254 (2005).
In maintaining good health:
William C. Dement and Christopher Vaughan,
The Promise of Sleep
(New York: Dell, 2000).
The shift, it turns out, is executed:
Quotes from Saper referring to the sleep switch are from C. B. Saper, "Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms,"
Nature
437, 1257–63 (2005).
Baron Constantin von Economo ... first identified:
C. von Economo, "Sleep as a problem of localization,"
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders
71, 249–59 (1930).
Scientists have recently pinpointed the switch:
Saper, "Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms."