Effects Of Lack Of Sleep

Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes...why lack of sleep is much worse ...

Sleep deprived? Join the club. About a quarter of the population regularly misses out on the healthy six to eight hours sleep we need a night, with potentially dangerous effects.

Not only is sleep deprivation frequently linked to road and industrial accidents (a quarter of road crashes are sleep related), but it’s been shown to raise significantly the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and obesity.

And now the latest studies suggest that lack of sleep hits women harder — both physically and emotionally — than men.

Scientists at the University of Warwick Medical School have reported there is a strong link between acute sleep deprivation and high blood pressure in women — but no such link in men.

Furthermore, last week researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the U.S. reported that when women are sleep-deprived it causes relationship problems — but the same is not true for men.

So why does sleep deprivation have so much more of an effect on women?

‘Numerous studies now show that short and poor quality sleep, over a protracted period is more likely to make both men and women die earlier than they should,’ says Francesco Cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine and epidemiology at Warwick Medical School.

‘However, we have spotted important gender differences — particularly in the incidence of high blood pressure.’

Women who regularly sleep five hours or less are twice as likely to have high blood pressure than women who sleep for seven hours a night. For the men, blood pressure remained stable whether they were getting five or seven hours sleep.

The University of Warwick researchers found that sleep deprivation in women raises the markers for inflammation that can damage arteries, increasing the risk of coronary disease. The effect was greatest in pre-menopausal women.

‘We know that when you sleep your blood pressure naturally drops, so if you aren’t getting enough sleep, your body will have to cope with elevated blood pressure for more hours a day.

‘Women are more vulnerable to the damage this causes,’ says Professor Cappuccio.

He adds: ‘Statistics show that women tend to sleep less than men.

Long Term Effects of Lack of Sleep - Lack of Sleep Cure | A ...

Store would always call me in the middle of the night to tell me about some problem.

The I came down with diabetes and would get up a couple of times a night to test my blood sugar to make sure I didn’t have an insulin reaction in my sleep. I’m better about doing that now, but I have established a pattern of broken sleep. I rarely sleep more than a couple of hours at a time.

Now the latest research says that lack of sleep is another risk factor for heart attack and stroke. The reason is that lack of sleep leads to that nasty demon inflammation. Inflammation in the arteries along with high blood pressure can lead to scarring and the formation of clots.

According to Medical News Today: “US researchers found that poor sleep quality, that is not getting a good night’s sleep or not enough sleep, is linked to higher levels of inflammation, a known risk factor for heart disease and stroke.”

The researchers say that previous studies have already shown a link between poor sleep quality and inflammation as well as changes in the blood vessels, but more research needs to be done on linking the physiological effects of poor sleep to disease.

Most sleep studies in the past have focused on problems that are caused by short-term lack of sleep. Few studies have been done on the effects of long term insomnia. The researchers studied three different groups of people: those who got less than 6 hours of sleep per night, those who got 6.5 to 9 hours, and those who got more than 9 hours of sleep.

Those who have less than 6 hours of sleep per night, (which is the upper third of the U.S. population) are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those who get enough sleep. The researchers also found a difference in the three inflammation markers in all three groups.

The biggest effect was seen in the group who got less than 6 hours of sleep. There was no statical difference between those who got 6-9 hours of sleep and those who slept more than 9 hours per night.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/207877.php

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