UK (Commonwealth Union) – The average sleep time may vary from person to person. Quite often after a late night out, with just 2 or 3 hours of sleep, many people take on the next day with intermittent short snoozes throughout the day or with a heavy dose of caffeine. A new study conducted by the University College London (UCL) has found that less than 5 hours of sleep in mid-to-late life can be associated with a heightened risk which could lead to at least 2 chronic diseases.
The study evaluated effects of sleep length on the health of over 7,000 males and females at 50, 60 and 70 years old from the Whitehall II cohort study. The study focused on the link between the duration each participant slept for, mortality and if they had been diagnosed for multimorbidity (2 or more chronic diseases), which included heart disease, cancer or diabetes, during a 25-year period.
Individuals who had 5 hours of sleep or less at 50 years were 20 percent more likely to have a chronic disease diagnosis and 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with 2 or more chronic diseases over 25 years, compared to individuals who slept for up to 7 hours.
Dr Severine Sabia of UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Healthcare stated that multimorbidity is increasing in high income nations and over half of older adults currently have at least 2 chronic diseases, which is a serious issue to public health as multimorbidity is linked to high healthcare utilization, hospitalizations and disability. “As people get older, their sleep habits and sleep structure change. However, it is recommended to sleep for 7 to 8 hours a night – as sleep durations above or below this have previously been associated with individual chronic diseases,” she said.
