Getting a good night’s sleep may just save your life.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that participants in a new study who maintained a regular and healthy sleep schedule were 40 percent less likely to die than those who didn’t.
This means consistently getting about seven to nine hours of sleep, similar to the national recommendations.
‘The results suggest [the] benefits of expanding the public conversation about getting ‘a good night’s sleep’ and broadening this goal to get many good nights in a row, on weekdays and weekends,” said research led by Joon Chung, involved in the investigation, in a press release.
The findings were presented last week at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies’ regular meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.
According to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the findings come when a third of Americans don’t get enough sleep — at least seven hours a night.
A lack of sleep is consistently linked to chronic health problems such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity and depression.
The research team used data from the Multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA), a medical research study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate 1,750 participants over an average follow-up of seven years.
Participants were equipped with wrist actuation and worn like a watch to assess their sleep patterns by measuring activity through light and movement.
About 1,015 participants were categorized as “regular-optimal” sleepers, while 744 were considered “irregular-insufficient” sleepers, according to Medscapewho reviewed the study.
During the follow-up period, 176 people died.
Data from the United Health Foundation showed that about one-third of adults don’t get at least seven hours of sleep a night until they are 65 years old. From there, levels drop to 26 percent — but this is still more than a quarter of older adults who get less than seven hours a night
The same dataset found that men are more likely to get insufficient sleep compared to women
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning, including weekends.
Sleep deprivation is widespread in the US.
According to 2020 data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which surveyed 400,000 Americans in the U.S., Hawaii, West Virginia, and Kentucky are the most sleep-deprived states.
Sleep deprivation in this dataset means less than seven hours per night.
The states with the least sleep deprivation were Colorado, Minnesota and South Dakota.
Nationally, data shows that about 34 percent of adults are sleep deprived — less than seven hours a night — from ages 18 to 64.
This drops to 26 percent as adults are over age 65, but that’s still more than a quarter of adults who don’t get enough sleep.
Men are more likely than women to get insufficient sleep overall, with 33.3 percent saying they sleep less than seven hours a night, compared to 32.1 percent of women.
The CDC says 8.4 percent of American adults take pills to fall asleep, more than double the number they took 10 years earlier.
These can rob the body of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Too little REM sleep can lead to forgetfulness and make it harder to get up in the morning.
The CDC recommended that all Americans get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Children from six to twelve years old need nine to twelve hours a night, teenagers eight to ten hours.
“If sleep were an eight-hour pill, it would be beneficial to take the full dose consistently at regular intervals,” said Mr. Chung.
“Getting enough, regular sleep seems to be something that is good for everyone. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t benefit from it.’