Not achieving the recommended eight hours sleep each night, is as damaging to a person's health as a high-fat diet or sedentary lifestyle, experts have warned.
Both too much and too little sleep increases the risk of inflammation in the body, a new study suggests.
Insufficient sleep is considered a public health epidemic by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Common conditions, such as insomnia, have been linked to increased risk of inflammatory disease and a greater risk of early death.
Dr John Krystal, editor of the journal Biological Psychiatry, where the new findings are published, said: 'It is important to highlight both too much and too little sleep appears to be associated with inflammation, a process that contributes to depression as well as many medical illnesses.'
Inflammation causes a number of substances to increase in volume in the blood stream.
These include, C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).
An increase in these substances can be an indication of adverse health conditions, including cardiovascular problems, hypertension - or raised blood pressure - and type 2 diabetes.
An increase in these substances can be an indication of adverse health conditions, including cardiovascular problems, hypertension - or raised blood pressure - and type 2 diabetes.
Many past studies have investigated the mechanism behind the link between sleep and immunity.
But variations between pieces of research have made it difficult to understand the effects.
A team of researchers from UCLA set out to review past research to further understand the association.
Michael Irwin, Richard Olmstead and Judith Carroll, all of the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, examined 72 different articles.
Their systematic review encompassed more than 50,000 participants from population-based, and clinical trials.
The researchers focused on CRP, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), as signs of inflammation in the body.
They defined - as per various national guidelines - normal sleep duration to be seven to eight hours of shut-eye a night.
Their analysis showed that sleep disturbance - poor quality sleep, or insomnia - was linked to increased levels of CRP and IL-6.
Furthermore, sleep for longer than eight hours, had the same effect on CRP and IL-6 levels.
Shorter sleep duration was linked to raised levels of CRP but seemingly had no effect on IL-6 levels.
And the researchers noted no associations to TNFα.
Dr Irwin said sleep disturbance or insomnia should be regarded as behavioural risk factors for inflammation, similar to the adverse effects of a high-fat diet or sedentary behaviour.
Treatments targeting sleep behaviour could be a strategy for reversing the inflammation and reducing the risk of inflammatory illness.
Dr Irwin concluded: 'Together with diet and physical activity, sleep health represents a third component in the promotion of health-span.'
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