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In the modern, 24/7 world, where you can do almost anything at any time of day or night, it’s tempting to think that you can snip an hour off your sleep time here and there to complete that critical report, or nip and tuck an hour from your early morning snooze to fit in run or a breakfast meeting on the other side of town.  Or even throw in an occasional all-nighter.  And so, ok, you know you might feel a bit sluggish the next day, suffer a ‘ brain fog’, perhaps be a bit tetchy, but nothing that can’t be fixed with lie-in at the weekend, surely?  These are the acute physical and mental effects of sleep loss that we are all familiar with.

Over the last couple of decades, sleep scientists have been researching not only disorders of sleep but also sleep loss resulting from modern lifestyle behaviours.  These researchers are now unanimously convinced that insufficient quality sleep, whatever its cause, can have profound negative consequences for health, including high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack and stroke,  all of which develop more insidiously over months and years.  Indeed, the bottom line statistic from three very large prospective studies is that sleeping 5 hours or less increases risk of death from all causes by about 15% (1)

It’s easy to imagine how lack of concentration resulting from a few nights poor slumber could contribute to an accident, but it’s more difficult to link a heart attack in middle age to years of inadequate sleep.  But this is what careful research is revealing. Scientists are now trying to unravel the mechanisms by which sleep loss, either insufficient amount or quality, may contribute to these health conditions.

In the case of obesity, people who habitually sleep less than 6 hours a night are much more likely to have a high BMI (Body Mass Index, a measure of weight status), compared to those individuals who sleep 8 hours a night and have the lowest BMI.  Although it could be argued that sleep loss is a symptom of obesity, sleep restriction studies suggest otherwise. Sleep deprivation in humans results in ; decreased secretion of leptin, an appetite supressing hormone; increased levels of ghrelin, an appetite stimulating hormone; increased insulin secretion, which promotes fat storage; decreased resolve to exercise.  All of these are potential mechanisms by which sleep loss causes obesity.

The majority of people who do not wake refreshed in the morning are suffering from normal sleep disturbances that result from modern lifestyle pressures.  Some simple changes to routine can produce significant improvements.  Go to www.nhs.uk/Livewell/sleep for plenty of useful tips.  However, if you believe you may be suffering from a sleep disorder, of which there are thought to be around 90 distinct types, then you need to seek medical advice.

Sleep, along with exercise and healthy eating, has come to be regarded by sleep doctors as the third pillar of healthy living.  Sleep is not an optional extra; those of us who wake a little grumpy and groggy in the morning need to reassess our habits to try to get more shut-eye.

 

  1. Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem. National Academies Press (US) 2006