Good sleep is one of the core pillars of good health, but achieving it is no easy task for some. What’s more, scientific findings suggest simply getting sufficient shut-eye is not enough for optimal health; a person must also fall asleep effortlessly and stay asleep without any disruption. In total, there may be five sleep factors necessary for prolonging lifespan, new findings suggest.
The findings recently emerged from a collaborative study by the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session, and the World Congress of Cardiology.
The scientists found that young people who adhere to a greater number of beneficial sleep habits have an incrementally lower risk of dying at a young age.
The research looked at more than 170,000 people from the US National Health Interview Survey.
Researchers assessed five different factors revolving around sleep quality, using a low-risk sleep score.
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The five factors were:
- Ideal sleep duration of seven to eight hours a night
- Difficulty falling asleep no more than two times a week
- Trouble staying asleep no more than two times a week
- Not using any sleep medication
- Feeling well rested after waking up at least five days a week.
Frank Qian, MD, an internal medicine resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess, said: “We saw a clear dose-response relationship, so the more beneficial factors someone has in terms of having a higher quality of sleep, they also have a stepwise lowering of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. “
The medical expert continued: “If people have all these ideal sleep behaviours, they are more likely to live longer.
“So, if we can improve sleep overall and identifying sleep disorders is especially important, we may be able to prevent some of this premature mortality.”
Other causes of death assessed by scientists were related to infections and neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s.
“Even from a young age, if people can develop these good sleep habits of getting enough sleep, making sure they are sleeping without too many distractions and having good sleep hygiene overall, it can greatly benefit their overall long-term health,” noted Qian.
“It’s important for younger people to understand that a lot of health behaviours are cumulative over time. Just like we like to say ‘it’s never too late to exercise or stop smoking’, it’s also never too early.
“We should be talking about and assessing sleep more often.”
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