February 26, 2023
Author: Manish Verma
Editor: Dr. Shampa Ghosh
Picture waking up feeling rejuvenated, invigorated, and prepared to face the day with zeal. Your cognitive abilities are enhanced, your mood is buoyant, and your performance is at its peak. Conversely, imagine awakening with a sense of fogginess, crankiness, and struggling to remain alert during the day. The defining factor that separates these two situations is sleep. Sleep is an indispensable element of our overall health and wellness, affecting our physical health, cognitive function, and emotional resilience. The repercussions of inadequate and poor-quality sleep are manifold and can lead to negative consequences. Furthermore, a recent study revealed that insufficient sleep habits may account for up to 8% of all deaths. Additionally, individuals who sleep better may have a lower probability of premature death.
[Sourced from itamar medical]
A new study being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session, along with the World Congress of Cardiology, suggests that good sleep may play a crucial role in maintaining our cardiovascular and overall health, and potentially even prolonging our lifespan. The study found that young individuals who sleep better have a somewhat lower risk of dying prematurely. Moreover, irregular sleep patterns may account for approximately 8% of fatalities from any cause. A significant dose-response association was observed, indicating that the better a person’s sleep quality, the lower their mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease.
To investigate this further, the researchers analyzed data from 172,321 individuals (with an average age of 50, and 54% female) who participated in the National Health Interview Survey between 2013 and 2018. This survey, conducted annually by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), collects information on sleep patterns and health to evaluate the health status of the American population.
Nearly two-thirds of the survey participants identified as White, 14.5% as Hispanic, 12.6% as Black, and 5.5% as Asian. By linking the study participants to records from the National Death Index up until December 31st, 2019, the researchers were able to examine the associations between different sleep patterns and overall mortality, as well as cause-specific mortality. The participants were monitored for an average of 4.3 years, during which 8,681 individuals died. Of these fatalities, 2,610 (30%) were caused by cardiovascular disease, 2,052 (24%) by cancer, and 4,019 (46%) by other causes.
Using the data collected as part of the survey, the researchers developed a low-risk sleep score that assessed five key aspects of high-quality sleep, including ideal sleep duration, difficulty falling and staying asleep, not using any sleep medication, and feeling well-rested after waking up. Each of these factors was assigned a score of zero or one, with a maximum score of five indicating the best possible sleep quality.
The researchers controlled for other factors that may have increased the risk of death, such as lower socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol consumption, and other medical conditions. Compared to individuals with zero to one favorable sleep factors, those with all five factors were 30% less likely to die from any cause, 21% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, 19% less likely to die from cancer, and 40% less likely to die from reasons other than heart disease or cancer.
The study also found that males with all five low-risk sleep factors had a life expectancy that was 4.7 years longer than males with none or only one of the five positive sleep features. Similarly, women with all five positive sleep factors had a life expectancy that was 2.4 years longer than those with none or only one of the five factors. However, further research is needed to understand why males with all five factors saw a twofold increase in life expectancy compared to females with similarly good sleep quality.
Keywords:
Sleep Hygiene, Mortality, Life Expectancy
References:
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