Men who suffer from insomnia or sleep for short periods of time are at risk of an early death, a new study suggests.The study, reported in the September 1 issue of the journal Sleep, found that men who had serious sleep problems were much more likely to d
Men who suffer from insomnia or sleep for short periods of time are at risk of an early death, a new study suggests.
The study, reported in the September 1 issue of the journal Sleep, found that men who had serious sleep problems were much more likely to die over a 14 year period.
No major link between insomnia and mortality rates was found in women but women in the study were only followed for 10 years compared to 14 and were younger, with an average age of 47 at the start of the study compared to the average male age of 50.
This is reflected in the results: only 5% of women died during the study period while the figure was about one in five amongst the men studied.
Unlike many earlier studies comparing sleeping patterns with life expectancy, this study surveyed participants on how well they slept and also checked how much sleep they got overnight in a lab.
Even after adjusting for factors such as sleep apnoea, the researchers found a significant difference in death rates between self-described insomniacs and good sleepers.
More than half (51%) of insomniacs with short sleep duration died during the study period, compared to only 9% of “good sleepers”.
It’s thought that bad sleep can weaken the immune system; it has been linked to obesity and a range of chronic health problems.
“Insomnia has potentially very severe side effects,” said study co-author and sleep researcher Edward Bixler. “It needs to be treated, and more effort needs to be put into sorting out better treatments.”
