IF YOU ARE MIDDLE-AGED AND SLEEP FIVE HOURS or less per night, you may have a higher risk of numerous serious and chronic health conditions, including depression, heart disease, cancer, and more. That is the conclusion of a new large study from University College London (England) and Université Paris Cité. Today we look at sleep and health.

I am sometimes tempted to trade sleep for some hours of wakefulness, but I do so at my own peril. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that insufficient sleep is associated with a higher risk of a range of medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Chronic sleep insufficiency is linked to premature death.

When pressed for time, many of my patients offer that sleep is the first thing to go. Today, I will give you more evidence that sleep is not a luxury. Scientists are discovering that getting sufficient sleep may be as valuable to your health and well-being as is adequate nutrition and physical activity.

Sleep and health

Determining the health risks associated with insufficient sleep can be challenging, as medical conditions can take a lot of time to develop and multiple risk factors are associated with them. Nevertheless, a growing scientific literature reminds us that sleep less than seven (or more than nine) hours each night is associated with:

• Obesity. Numerous studies associate insufficient sleep with weight gain. For example, a University of Iowa (USA) study discovered that individuals regularly sleeping fewer than six hours per night had a much higher chance of being overweight. On the other hand, those sleeping an average of wight hours had the lowest relative fat.

How You Can Use This Unappreciated Tool to Lose WeightDO YOU REGULARLY SLEEP LESS THAN SEVEN HOURS A NIGHT? You are more likely to have a higher body mass index (BMI) and…medium.com

• Diabetes. Sleep fewer than five hours nightly, and you will greatly increase your probability of developing diabetes. The good news? Improving your sleep can be linked to better blood sugar control, while dropping the effects of type 2 diabetes.
• Cardiovascular disease. While six to seven hours of sleep seems like a reasonable amount, a recent study shows that getting six to seven hours per night is associated with a much increased risk of heart attack and premature death due to heart disease. Moreover, sleep loss caused by obstructive sleep apnea is linked to high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, stroke, and an irregular heartbeat.
• Common cold. Those who average under seven hours of sleep, and are exposed to cold-causing rhinovirus, have three times the risk of suffering from cold symptoms (compared to those getting eight or more hours). Sleep quality matters too: Those who sleep well are the least likely to get a cold.
• COVID-19. Get adequate sleep and you may drop your COVID-19 infection risk.

One Trick to Dropping Covid RiskVACCINATION IS ESSENTIAL TO LOWERING your risk of suffering severe illness associated with a COVID-19 infection. With…medium.com

• Early mortality. Insufficient sleep (for example, five or few hours per night) is associated with premature mortality.

Sleep and chronic illness — A new study

Resarchers examined data on over 7,000 women and men in the Whitehall II cohort study. They extracted sleep duration information when the subjects were 50, 60, and 70. They also looked at the development of morbidities (chronic illnesses) over 25 years of follow-up.

TO extract the sleep data, the scientists used the question “How many hours of sleep do you have on an average week-night?” Response categories were: Five hours or less, 6 hours, 7 hours, 8 hours, and 9 hours or more.

Here are the new findings from researchers at University College London (England) and Université Paris Cité (France):

Beginning at age 50, individuals sleeping five hours or fewer per night have a 1.3-times higher chance of developing chronic diseases, compared with those who slept at least seven hours.

To reiterate, sleep is associated with having two or more chronic diseases as follows:

• At age 50, those who slept five hours or less had a 1.3-times greater risk of having multiple chronic diseases (compared with those who slept seven hours).
• At age 60, those who slept five hours or less had a 1.3-fold increased risk of having multiple chronic diseases (compared with those who slept seven hours).
• Shorter sleep at age 50 appeared associated with a 1.25-times higher risk of mortality, primarily secondary to an increased risk of chronic disease.

The chronic conditions include cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, depression, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and arthritis.

Interestingly, long sleep duration appeared to increase the risk of multiple chronic health problems for those at older ages (60+), but not in those age 50. Perhaps those with underlying chronic disease need more sleep. Alternatively, chronic disease takes a long time to develop.

Sleep and health — My take

The recent study is one more piece of evidence of the association between insufficient sleep and chronic disease. Here are the problems I have with the study:

• Self-reporting of sleep is a not great approach. How well does it correlate with actual sleep?
• Subjective measurement of sleep quality raises issues.
• The researchers examined a predominantly (90 percent) British population, so these findings need to be confirmed in a more diverse population.
• The study is observational. You know the problem: Drownings are associated with ice cream consumption. Causality? I think not: Both go up in the summer. However, the study results are in line with a growing body of scientific literature linking too little (and too much) sleep with poor health outcomes.

The United States Centers for Disease Control offers some tips for getting better sleep and improving your overall health:

• Try to go to sleep and get up at about the same time daily.
• Keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and at a comfortable temperature.
• Avoid large meals, tobacco, and alcohol before bedtime.
• Get regular exercise; being physically active during the day can help you fall asleep at night.

Thank you for joining me in this brief exploration of insufficient sleep and health. A growing body of evidence points to the importance of adequate sleep when it comes to health and well-being.

Join Medium with my referral link – Michael Hunter, MDRead every story from Michael Hunter, MD (and thousands of other writers on Medium). Your membership fee directly…drmichaelhunter.medium.com

The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.