This is revealed by a new scientific research that will be presented at the World Congress of Cardiology by a team of clinicians from Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Sleeping well protects not only the heart, but also lengthens life. New research says it will be presented at the World Congress of Cardiology in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 6th. The analysis, anticipated byAmerican College of Cardiology (ACC)found that good sleep has clear long-term benefits, but only if the night’s rest has certain ingredients, or rather, five different quality factors. These factors, explained study co-author Frank Qian, a clinical research scientist at Harvard Medical School and internal medicine physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, they can extend life by up to five years.
Sleeping well can extend life by up to five years
For the analysis, Qian and colleagues examined data from 172,321 people (average age 50 and 54% women) who, between 2013 and 2018, participated in the National Health Interview Survey, a survey conducted annually by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) and the National Center for Health Statistics to evaluate the health of Americans and which also includes questions about sleep and bedtime habits. This information, linked to National Death Index data (through December 31, 2019), allowed the researchers to both examine the participants’ sleep quality and identify which factors were most beneficial to overall health.
Specifically, the researchers evaluated five different sleep quality factorsor the five behaviors that were found to be associated with a longer life:
- ideal sleep duration of seven to eight hours per night;
- difficulty falling asleep no more than twice a week;
- difficulty staying asleep no more than twice a week;
- do not use sleeping medications;
- feeling well rested after waking up at least five days a week.
Each factor was assigned a score (from zero to one for each), for a maximum of five points, which indicated the highest quality sleep. “If people have all of these ideal sleep behaviors, they are more likely to live longer Qian said. Therefore, if we can improve sleep in general and identify sleep disorders early, we may be able to reduce premature mortality.”.
The benefits of good sleep
Taking into account factors that may have increased the participants’ risk of death, such as smoking, alcohol consumption and other medical conditions, the researchers noted that compared to people who had sleep quality factors of zero to one, those who presented them all five had 30% less chance to die for any cause, 21% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, 19% less likely of dying from cancer and 40% less likely to die from causes other than heart disease or cancer. According to Qian, these other deaths are likely due to accidents, infections or neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease, but more research is needed to attribute that relationship.
The study also highlighted a substantial difference between men and women who reported all five sleep quality measures: for men, life expectancy was older than 4.7 years while for women it was above 2.4 years, compared to those who had none or only one of the five factors. However, the analysis did not determine why, despite having the same quality of sleep, men had twice the increase in life expectancy compared to women, necessitating the design of new studies to address the shortcomings of this first analysis.
However, what has emerged highlights how “even from a young age, developing these good sleep habits of getting enough sleep, making sure you have too many distractions, and having good sleep hygiene in general, has significant long-term overall health benefitsQian said, adding that gains in life expectancy starting at age 30 were estimated for this study, although the model can also be used to predict gains in old age. “It’s important – concluded the researcher – that young people understand that many health-related behaviors accumulate over time. Just like we like to say ‘it’s never too late to exercise or quit smoking’, it’s never too early to start getting good sleep. And to start talking and evaluate our sleep more often”.