2024-04-09 15:23:13
Bad sleep makes you sick. But it’s not just those who can’t get to sleep at night who have an increased risk of illness.
Various studies have shown that people need seven to eight hours of sleep. But many sleep significantly less time or find almost no rest at night.
Researchers at Penn State University have now examined the connection between individual sleep patterns and the occurrence of chronic diseases. They analyzed data from 3,700 participants in a study ten years apart.
The test subjects reported on their sleeping habits, how regularly and for how long they sleep, how satisfied they are with their sleep and how awake and fit they feel during the day. At the same time, they provided information about the type and number of chronic illnesses they had.
Four sleep patterns emerged
The researchers also included characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, training, partner status, number of children, work status, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity.
From the reports, they were able to identify four sleep pattern phenotypes:
- Good sleepers, which had optimal values in terms of both duration and efficiency.
- Weekend catch-up sleeper: You sleep irregularly and on average too short a time, but try to make up for it on weekends or days off from work.
- People affected by insomnia: They take a long time to fall asleep, sleep too little or hardly at all and are constantly tired during the day.
- The nap guy: He usually sleeps well, but takes more naps during the day.
They also found that once sleep patterns or disorders have been trained, they are usually retained. For 77 percent of the participants, their sleep behavior had not changed over ten years.
Nap fans also have an increased risk of illness
Two phenotypes had a significantly increased risk of disease: the insomniacs and nap fans. Those who suffered from insomnia for over ten years had a greatly increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and depression. They also had a significantly increased likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease and frailty.
Taking naps more often during the day was particularly common in one group: older adults and retirees. Here the researchers found a significantly increased risk of diabetes, cancer and frailty.
The researchers also found that people with less education and those who are unemployed or at risk of unemployment are more likely to suffer from insomnia. Study leader Soomi Lee concludes: “We need to make more efforts to educate the public about good sleep health.”
And she has tips for poor sleepers: “There are sleep hygiene behaviors people can adopt to improve their sleep, such as not using cell phones in bed, exercising regularly, and avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon.”