Medical professionals have identified four types of sleep and described their long-term effects on health
A person's sleep schedule can be used to predict what his or her long-term health status will be. This was found out by a team of researchers from the USA and the Czech Republic.
Numerous studies have proven that insufficient sleep leads to various chronic diseases. Among them, for example, type 2 diabetes mellitus. At the same time, only 15% of people around the world manage to keep a sleep schedule, which makes sleep deprivation a massive public health problem.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, University of South Florida, University of Pittsburgh, University of Arizona (all in the U.S.) and University Hospital in Motol (Czech Republic) analyzed data from 3683 Americans and identified four patterns that characterize the sleep patterns of most people. The researchers then described the long-term impact of each pattern on human health. The corresponding scientific article was published by the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
The authors of the publication worked with a sample that consisted of adults who participated in a middle-aged study in the United States. People provided data on their sleep schedule (regularity, duration, subjective satisfaction with sleep, wakefulness during the day), as well as the number and types of their chronic conditions. The study took into account the influence of factors such as gender, age, race, education, marital status, number of children, employment, smoking, alcohol consumption, and the presence of physical activity. The researchers had information collected from 2004-2006 and from 2013-2017.
Based on the data collected, the researchers identified four types of people based on sleep patterns:
- Sufficient sleepers. Such people followed an optimal sleep schedule throughout the study and between data collection periods, meaning they slept 7-9 hours at least four days a week.
- Weekend sleepers. These study participants slept irregularly and for an average of less than seven hours. However, on weekends, their sleep duration increased to normal or exceeded nine hours.
- Sufferers of insomnia. These people exhibited clinical symptoms of insomnia, including sleeping less than seven hours, daytime fatigue (feeling unrested at least four times a week) and difficulty falling asleep - going to bed took more than 30 minutes.
- Sleep deprived. This group of study participants was characterized by mostly good sleep (as in "sleeping enough"), but they had to sleep more than four times during the day to feel well.
The latter two groups included 77% of the study participants. Both sleep schedules were suboptimal for those who adhered to them, and insomnia increased the risk of chronic diseases including heart and vascular disease, diabetes and depression by 72-188%. Being a "weekend sleeper" was not associated with chronic disease.
The researchers noticed that the study participants mostly (68%) did not change their sleep schedule after 10 years. This once again confirmed that correcting sleep habits is very difficult: it requires a whole lifestyle overhaul.
The authors of the article called for the creation of various programs that will promote healthy sleep and remind about its importance for the quality of life. If it is not possible to significantly change the daily routine, it is worth at least observing sleep hygiene, they believe: do not use cell phones in bed, exercise regularly, do not use caffeine in the evening.