Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: About one in three older adults experience falls, especially at night, representing a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality (McMahon et al., 2012).One mechanism potentially contributing to risk of such falls is an impaired blood pressure (BP) response to standing, where decreased BP after standing up leads to a loss of balance.Intriguingly, data from controlled tilt-table tests show the circadian system regulates BP responses to postural changes (Hu et al., 2011).This raises the hypothesis that the circadian clock, which controls 24 h rhythms in physiology, may influence BP responses to standing and, in turn, affect night-time fall risk in older adults.However, BP responses to standing after awakening from sleep have not been systematically studied, especially during the night.This knowledge contributes to the lack of effective evidence-based interventions to mitigate night-time fall risk among older adults.For example, interventions will probably differ if fall risk is modulated by the circadian clock vs. environmentally or behaviourally driven rhythms that typically occur at night, such as fasting, being sedentary and medication use, or an interaction among these factors (Klerman et al., 2022).Disentangling the potential influence of the circadian clock vs. environmental/behavioural rhythms requires carefully designed circadian protocols such as the constant routine or forced-desynchrony.In general, these protocols eliminate or evenly distribute
Source: The Journal of Physiology
DOI: 10.1113/jp289779
Authors: Audrey P. Stegman, Christopher M. Depner
Institution: University of Utah
Language: English
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,400
Funder: National Institutes of Health
OpenAlex ID: W4414455907