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According to a group of Korean scientists, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to heart disease, diabetes, and boost risk of stroke later in life.
Researchers learned that people who do not get at least six hours of shut-eye per night are more prone to all these conditions than they peers who get enough sleep.
Researchers explained that people who routinely lack sleep may soon develop metabolic syndrome, which is a mix of conditions including high blood pressure and cholesterol, high blood sugar and high levels of fats in the bloodstream. Metabolic syndrome often leads to more severe conditions including life-threatening diseases.
Dr. Jang Young Kim, lead author of the study and researcher at Yonsei University in South Korea, provided reporters with more details on the research. In their study, investigators monitored 2,600 adults for a couple of years.
The team learned that chronic sleep deprivation may lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions in participants who didn’t sleep at least six hours every night. These people had a 41 percent higher risk of developing the syndrome than their peers who reported sleeping six to eight hours.
The study was based on data collected in two major surveys that were conducted between 2005 and 2011. Volunteers were also examined by their doctors and agreed to disclose their medical history.
The findings revealed that more than 500 study participants, or 22 percent, developed metabolic syndrome in the follow-up period. The study was published this week in the journal Sleep.
Researchers also learned that chronic sleep loss was tied to 30 percent higher risk of developing high blood sugar and cholesterol and a 56 percent risk of hypertension. On the other hand, the study results’ may not be 100 percent accurate.
Scientists acknowledged that they based their research on self-reports about how much sleep participants were getting every night and recalls on past medical conditions and lifestyle choices.
But past research also found that there is a significant link between sleep duration and metabolic syndrome.
University of Chicago’s Dr. Kristen Knutson, a medical research who wasn’t part in the study, believes that the study is significant because it was conducted from a prospective point of view.
Knutson added that other studies had also assessed sleep duration before patients developed the disease.
Researchers recommend short-sleepers to reorganize their daily schedule to include enough sleep. While, work, school, or taking care of children cannot be removed from the list, other activities can including TV watching or online procrastination.
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