According to a study conducted by scientists from UCL (University College London), sleeping under 5 hours in the second half of life could increase the chances of developing a minimum of two chronic diseases.
The participants were over 7,000 males and females aged 50, 60, and 70 from the longitudinal study of Whitehall II. It was published in PLOS Medicine on 18th October.
Scientists examined the connection between participants’ mortality and their sleep length, and if they had been diagnosed with more than 1 chronic disease. It was done over a course of twenty-five years.
A study revealed that over a period of 25 years, the people who reportedly got under five hours of sleep at the age of 50 had 20% more chance of chronic disease diagnosis as well as 40% more chance of two or more such diseases compared to those who had up to seven hours of sleep. Furthermore, less than five hours of sleep at the age of 50 was linked to a 25% higher chance of mortality over the follow-up period of 25 years.
Dr. Severine Sabia, the lead author of the study said, “Multimorbidity is on the rise in high-income countries and more than half of older adults now have at least two chronic diseases. This is proving to be a major challenge for public health, as multimorbidity is associated with high healthcare service use, hospitalizations and disability. As people get older, their sleep habits and sleep structure change.”
She further says that it is imperative to encourage good sleep hygiene to get a good night’s sleep, like ensuring the room is dark, quiet, and has a comfortable temperature. Other things that may also improve sleep are being exposed to sunlight and physical activity during the day. The researchers also evaluated whether sleeping for nine hours affected the outcomes. No clear relation was found in healthy individuals.
However, if the person tested already had a chronic disorder, the longer sleep duration resulted in a 35% higher chance of developing an additional illness. According to the researchers, it could be because of the health conditions affecting sleep.
British Heart Foundation’s senior cardiac nurse Jo Whitmore said that sufficient sleep enables the body to rest and the lack of it could lead to stroke or heart disease through amplified blood pressure or inflammation. She mentions that this study adds to the already growing research on the significance of a good night’s sleep.
There are certain limitations to this study, like the data used on sleep was self-reported by the researchers, meaning there could be an issue of reporting bias. Nevertheless, the results were confirmed using 4,000 participants’ sleep data taken by an electronic device. Another limitation, also regarding data, was that the sleep quality data was only for participants between the age of 60 and 70.
The Whitehall II research only includes civil service members, who were all employed at the time of recruitment for the study which means that they possibly had better health compared to the general population.
