Quality Life Forum: Sleep Well

We spend 1/3 of our life time in sleep. This is not a waste of time. Human bodies need sleep as much as we need to eat and drink. Sleep plays a vital role in our ability to maintain body system functions. Sleep deprivation or oversleeping can lead to higher risk of chronic health problems.

How much sleep do we need? While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, the national sleep foundation recommends the following -

Teenagers (14-17): Sleep range is 8-10 hours
Younger adults (18-25): Sleep range is 7-9 hours
Adults (26-64): Sleep range remains 7-9 hours
Older adults (65+): Sleep range is 7-8 hours

When you open your eyes in the morning, checking the time clock is the first thing, naturally. Do you also track how many hours you have slept? And check how do you feel? Are you fully re-charged from a quality good night sleep? With modern technology on smart phones, sleep tracking becomes easy. Time in bed and time of sleep is not the same; time in bed is part of lifestyle and time of sleep reflects the quality of sleep. However, it is important to keep time in bed routine to ensure quality of sleep.

Interestingly, sleep pattern differences were observed among ethnic groups.

Whites report the highest rate of diagnosis for insomnia (10%), and Blacks/African-Americans have the highest rate of diagnosed sleep apnea (14%) among the four groups (White, Black/African-American, Asian or Hispanic).
Blacks/African-Americans report getting the least amount of sleep on workdays/ weekdays (6 hours and 14 minutes), but they also say that they need only 7 hours and 5 minutes of sleep each night to perform at their best during the day, which is significantly less sleep than Asians and Hispanics (7 hours and 29 minutes each).

Asians are the most likely ethnic group (84%) to say that they had a good night's sleep at least a few nights or more a week.

Insomnia in aging population

Research reports that difficulties falling asleep, interrupted sleep, early awakening and other insomnia symptoms affect up to 30-50% of adults. Some studies indicate that the prevalence of insomnia symptoms increases with age, and is associated with negative effects on cognitive function. In addition, sleep disorders are related to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, falls and increased mortality. Click here to learn how to manage chronic insomnia.

What happens when sleep too little or too much? On either side of the normal sleep hours (7 – 9 hours/night for adults) appears to have some risks in common, affecting our brain and overall health.

1. Impaired Brain Functioning and Mental Health

Cognition: researchers found that cognitive performance on three different games all peaked when people slept around seven hours, worsening with more or less rest. Other studies have also found memory impairments and decreased cognitive function with short or longer sleep.
Degenerative Diseases: Research indicates that getting too little or too much sleep may be tied to increased Alzheimer’s disease risk factors and a large Spanish study found that long sleepers may be at increased risk of developing dementia.
Depression and Mental Health: Oversleeping is considered a potential symptom of depression. While many people with depression report insomnia, about 15% tend to oversleep. People with long sleep durations are more likely to have persistent depression or anxiety symptoms compared to normal sleepers. Some research shows that irregularities in the body’s sleep clock may play a role in depressive symptoms, and returning sleep to a healthy pattern is often a focus of treatment.

2. Increased Inflammation Factors
Chronic inflammation in the body is tied with increased risk of everything from diabetes to heart disease to Alzheimer’s disease. Certain lifestyle factors like smoking, being obese and prolonged infections can contribute to inflammation, and getting too little or too much sleep may also play a role.

3. Increased Pain
While many times it can seem intuitive to rest more when we’re in pain, research shows that in some cases too much sleep can exacerbate symptoms. Oversleeping is also linked with higher rates of headaches as well as trigger migraines and tension headaches.

Back pain can worsen from too little activity or spending too much time in bed. Sleeping in an un-ergonomic position or using an old or unsupportive mattress can also worsen back pain. Combined with staying still for a long period of time, these factors mean many people awake with worse back pain especially when spending longer amounts of time in bed.

4. Impaired Fertility
A study of Korean women undergoing in vitro fertilization therapy found that women who slept seven to eight hours had the best chances of conceiving. The moderate sleepers had the highest pregnancy rates (53%) compared to those sleeping six hours or less (46%) and those sleeping nine to eleven hours (43%). Study authors suggest sleep outside the normal range could be affecting hormones and circadian cycles, impairing fertility.

5. Impaired Glucose Tolerance
Glucose tolerance refers to the body’s ability to process sugars, and impaired glucose tolerance is associated with insulin resistance and is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

A Canadian study was conducted on 810 participants aged 18 to 65 years. The results strongly suggest that short sleep duration is a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome. A recent meta-analysis of diabetes and sleep studies concluded that both short and long sleep duration are associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes, underscoring the importance of appropriate sleep duration in the delay or prevention of type 2 diabetes.

6. Increased Weight Gain
Using the data as in a six-year Canadian study, researchers also found links between weight gain and sleep. This study provides evidence to the effect that both short and long sleep times predict higher body weight and fat gain in adults (aged 21 – 64).

7. Higher Heart Disease Risk
Using information from the large National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NAHNES), researchers linked both short and long sleep with higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. The study found that people sleeping more than eight hours per night were twice as likely to have angina (chest pain caused by reduced blood flow) and 10% more likely to have coronary heart disease.

Analysis of the data from the Nurses’ Health Study, which involved 71 617 middle-aged (45 – 65 years old) women, also found connections between sleep length and heart health. Short and long self-reported sleep durations are independently associated with a modestly increased risk of coronary events.

8. Higher Stroke Risk
A recent study from University of Cambridge found that people who sleep for more than eight hours a day have an increased risk of stroke and this risk doubles for older people who persistently sleep longer than average. However, the researchers say it is unclear why this association exists and call for further research to explore the link.

Follow up Data from NHANES also found a significant relationship between long sleep and stroke risk. People who slept more than eight hours had higher risk of stroke than people who slept six to eight hours. People who slept over eight hours and who also had daytime drowsiness had more significant higher stroke risk compared to normal sleepers.

9. Higher All-Cause Mortality Risk
Multiple studies have found that people who sleep nine or more hours a night have significantly higher death rates than people sleeping seven to eight hours a night.

A study of older adults found that compared with optimal sleep duration (7-9 h per day), both short (≤ 6 h per day) and long (≥ 10 h per day) sleep duration were significantly associated with CHD, stroke, and diabetes among adults age 45 years or older. These associations were more pronounced with long sleep duration than with short sleep.

Control your dreams will benefit sleep quality and you may have more control than you thought.

Focusing your mind on that topic in the moments before you fall asleep it’s likely to make the impression into your dream. Do not watch or think unpleasant events or horrible images before sleep. Calm your body and mind one hour before sleep to prevent nightmares.
Focusing on what you'd like to dream about – as we all dream in our sleeps, you may pick what you want to and telling yourself as you are falling into asleep, to make your sweet dreams become true.
Set your mind free and creative for dreams. Follow your heart, listen to the sound of nature, and close your eyes. Let your imaginations soar high, and travel to the world without footprints; the dreamland has no limit. Sweet dreams improve quality of sleep and waking a fresh new day in a good mood.

By the end of your day, relax and shut eyes for 8 quality hours in sweet dreams. You will renew yourself with empowering energy for life.

Visit https://qualitylifeforum.weebly.com/ for health and wellness coaching

References:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02813432.2020.1753382

https://sleepfoundation.org/press-release/national-sleep-foundation-recommends-new-sleep-times

Quality Life Forum

Saturday, June 1, 2024

Sleep Well

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