Sleep yourself healthy

Increase in doctor visits by people not getting enough shut-eye, says expert as studies highlight illness risk to sufferers

AN Irish sleep expert has said that more and more people here are suffering sleep deprivation, which is cutting their lives short. Lucy Wolfe was speaking after the publication of a major NHS review of 153 studies that detailed how healthy adults are at serious risk of developing several disorders as a result of lost sleep.

The doctor with the Sleep Matters Clinic in Cork warned that even missing out on a few hours of sleep each night can be detrimental to a person’s health.

The NHS review of worldwide studies – featuring more than 5million participants – found that a lack of adequate sleep was significantly associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and obesity.

And more people are turning up at their doctors complaining of problems sleeping, said Ms Wolfe.

‘An analysis of data collected by the UK’s NHS in June found that the number of sleeping disorder tests had increased every year over the past decade,’ she said.

‘The level of testing has now reached 150,000 for this year alone in the UK and the numbers are definitely on the increase here too. There are a number of factors, but the biggest is probably the rise in obesity. The most common and fastest-growing complaint is obstructive sleep apnoea – where the airway collapses and people stop breathing in their sleep – and this is strongly related to weight.’

Ms Wolfe said sleep and health ‘go hand in hand from childhood’, adding: ‘Developing good habits around sleep for children will follow into later life, as is borne out by research. I see it every day when dealing with babies, children and adolescents who have difficulty with sleep. It is worrying to see how many adults and children are having health problems due to sleep issues.’

Ms Wolfe added that even moderate levels of sleep deprivation can damage a person’s ability to control blood glucose levels.

‘Vaccines are less effective when we are sleep deprived, and sleep deprivation suppresses our immune system – making us more prone to infection,’ she said.

Ms Wolfe pointed out that while it is difficult to tell whether poor sleep is a cause or a symptom of poor health, these relationships feed off each other.

‘For example, people who are less fit exercise less, which leads people to sleep badly, become exhausted and less likely to exercise, and so on,’ she explained.

‘We do know that a continual lack of sleep has been linked time and again by scientists to poor health. A person doesn’t have to go for days without sleep to suffer these negative effects.’

She pointed out that one study found participants who had fewer than seven hours of sleep were almost three times more likely to develop a cold than those who slept for seven hours or more.

Ms Wolfe added that sleep problems vary considerably by age and gender. Another of the NHS studies found women at almost every age have more difficulty getting

Women have more difficulty sleeping

enough sleep than men. ‘Almost 30% of women aged between 25 and 29 were the most affected by sleep issues. Up to 25% of women aged from 50 to 59 also experienced sleep issues,’ she said.

The sleep doctor added that caffeine and alcohol both affect sleep duration and quality and that too much late-night socialising causes people to get less rest.