Taking 81 mg of aspirin daily does not change baseline levels of inflammation in healthy adults who sleep normally, but it may reduce inflammation only when sleep is restricted.
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
Aspirin only reduces inflammation when sleep is poor because that’s when the body turns on the inflammatory pathway it blocks. Under normal sleep, the pathway isn’t active enough for aspirin to make a difference.
Most probable mechanism
When a person doesn't get enough sleep, their immune cells become more active and produce more inflammatory signals. A small daily dose of aspirin blocks an enzyme in these cells that makes key inflammatory chemicals. This stops the chain of events that leads to higher levels of inflammation in the blood, but only when sleep is restricted — under normal sleep, the enzyme isn't active enough for the drug to have an effect.
Acetylsalicylic acid is absorbed and deacetylated to salicylate, which irreversibly acetylates cyclooxygenase-1 and cyclooxygenase-2 enzymes in monocytes
Inhibition of cyclooxygenase enzymes reduces the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandin H2, suppressing downstream pro-inflammatory eicosanoid production
Reduced prostaglandin signaling dampens NF-κB activation and cytokine transcription in immune cells
Lower interleukin-6 expression and C-reactive protein production occur as a direct result of suppressed inflammatory signaling in monocytes
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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0174 Using Low-Dose Acetylsalicylic Acid to Target Inflammation in Response to Experimental Sleep Restriction in Humans
Contradicting (0)
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