With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that 30 percent of the American workforce gets less than six hours of sleep per night, it's fair to say that lack of sleep has become a pervasive problem in our country. And while it's common knowledge that sleep loss can have a signficant impact on our current health and well-being, recent research has found that its implications for our future selves are even more frightening.
The Frightening Costs of Sleep Loss
Sleep deprivation has been associated with an increased risk for industrial accidents, motor vehicle accidents, medical errors, reduced productivity, impaired problem-solving skills, and increased stress (to name only a few)--all things that have an immediate impact on our lives. So much so that many are calling America's sleeplessness a public health epidemic. However, in recent years, researchers have discovered that what we do to our minds and bodies when we skimp on sleep doesn't just impact us in the hear and now. The consequences are far-reaching, and in some cases, deadly.
1. Forced Early Retirement
In a recent longitudinal cohort study of 1500+ Wisconsin state employees, researchers discovered that midlife insomnia increased the likelihood of early retirement due to poor health or disability. Dr. Lauren Hale at Stony Brook University in New York and her colleagues analyzed the data collected from a cohort of blue- and white-collar workers from midlife on. They discovered that 41 percent of the subjects reported symptoms of insomnia beginning around age 50, and as of 2013, about 66 percent of the cohort had retired. Hale reported that insomnia was the factor most significantly associated with retirement due to poor health or disability. In fact, those subjects who reported three or four symptoms of insomnia during midlife were twice as likely to retire due to poor health than those who did not report insomnia. (Hale acknowledges that more research needs to be done to better understand the temporal sequencing; see Insomnia Increases Risk of Retirement Because of Poor Health or Disability in Clinical Psychiatry News Digital Network.for more information about the study).
2. Accelerated Skin Aging
In 2013, researchers at University Hospitals Case Medical Center discovered evidence to connect sleep inadequacy with premature aging. Sixty pre-menopausal women (age 30 to age 49) were studied; half who were determined to have poor quality sleep based on average amount of sleep and a questionnaire assessing sleep quality. While researchers found no significant difference between the groups with respect to signs of extrinsic aging (i.e., deep wrinkles and freckles primarily attributable to sun exposure), they did find a significant difference with respect to signs of intrinsic aging (i.e., fine lines, uneven pigmentation, slackening of skin, and reduced elasticity). For more details about this study, see Sleep Deprivation Linked to Aging Skin, Study Suggests at Science Daily.
3. Brain Damage
In a 2014 press release from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, it was announced that Penn Medicine researchers discovered "disturbing evidence that chronic sleep loss may be more serious than previously thought and may even lead to irreversible physical damage to and loss of brain cells." Lead researcher Sigrid Veasey and colleagues studied mice that were put on a sleep schedule similar to shift workers and discovered a connection between sleep deprivation and injury/damage to neurons associated with alertness and cognition. Noting that more research is necessary to determine whether a similar result would be found in humans, Dr. Veasey said, "This is the first report that sleep loss can actually result in a loss of neurons." The press release concluded: "While more research will be needed to settle these questions, the present study provides another confirmation of a rapidly growing scientific consensus: sleep is more important than was previously believed."
4. Genetic Changes
In 2013, researchers discovered that just one week of inadequate sleep resulted in more than 700 gene changes. Some of the genes involved were genes that influence our immune and stress responses. While the subject pool was small (26 participants), the results suggest that long-term sleep loss may negatively affect us at a molecular level, which might eventually help us better understand the role that sleep loss plays in health conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, and hypertension. For more details on this study, see the full article at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
5. Increased Risk for Stroke
In 2012, researchers discovered a connection between sleep loss and stroke. According to USA Today reporter Janice Lloyd, the study was the first to link sleep inadequacy to stroke, partucularly in those who had no other risk factors for stroke. In Lloyd's article, the lead researcher, Megan Ruiter is quoted as saying, "People know how important diet and exercise are in preventing strokes. The public is less aware of the impact of insufficient amounts of sleep. Sleep is important—the body is stressed when it doesn't get the right amount."
6. Decreased Bone Density
A 2012 study published in Experimental Biology and Medicine found that chronically sleep deprived rats had decreased bone density consistent with osteoporosis. In a statement to Huffington Post, the editor-in-chief of the publication, Steven Goodman, noted: "If true in humans, and I expect that it may be, this work will have great impact on our understanding of the impact of sleep deprivation on osteoporosis and inability to repair bone damage as we age."
7. Increased Risk for Obesity
In 2011, Guglielmo Beccuti and Silvana Pannain published a review article in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care revealing that longitudinal and prospective epidemiological studies collectively have found a significant connection between chronic sleep loss and increased risk for obesity. The authors concluded that lab studies show "that sleep restriction leads to hormonal alterations, which may favor an increase in calories intake and a decreased energy expenditure and ultimately lead to weight gain."
8. Increased Risk for Heart Disease
In a 2011 press release, Warwick Medical School reported research showing not only an increased risk for stroke, but an increased risk for heart attacks and heart disease due to sleep loss. Researchers followed results from over 450,000 subjects spanning eight countries and discovered that people who get less than six hours of sleep each night and have disrupted sleep patterns "stand a 48 percent greater chance of developing or dying from heart disease ...". One of the researchers, Francisco Cappuccio noted, "There is an expectation in today's society to fit more into our lives. The whole work/life balance struggle is causing too many of us to trade in precious sleeping time to ensure we complete all the jobs we believe are expected of us. But in doing so, we are significantly increasing the risk of suffering a stroke or developing cardiovascular disease resulting in, for example, heart attacks."
9. Increased Risk for Cancer
Writing for ForHealths.com, medical writer Sameer Gupta describes several studies that link sleep loss to colorectal, breast, and prostrate cancer. Gupta describes a 2010 study in Cancer that found that people who get less than six hours of sleep per night are at increased risk for colorectal polyps which can develop into cancer. Gupta also reported on a study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine that found a connection between sleep loss and aggressive breast cancer tumors in women already suffering from breast cancer, noting that "after studying their sleep patterns for 2 years, researchers concluded that the group who slept less than 6 hours had higher scores of tumor recurrence." Another study, also published in Cancer, reported that sleep deprived males are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer than those who are not sleep deprived. Gupta writes, "Compared to men who had no trouble sleeping, those with disturbed sleeping patterns were 60% more likely to develop prostate cancer."
10. Death
Finally, following up on past research that suggested a connection between less sleep and mortality, Penn State researchers studied over 1700 men and women and discovered that men who got less than six hours of sleep were four times more likely to die than those who slept more--even when accounting for confoundning variables such as weight, alcohol and tobacco use, diabetes, and hypertension. Women, however, were not found to be at higher risk. To read the full study, see Sleep, Volume 33, Issue 9.
Any Good News?
The good news is that for many of us the amount of sleep we get is a choice we make. We have just one more thing that we want to take care of before we hit the bed, or one more email that we think we have to respond to, or one more something or other. Hopefully, this article will make you rethink that "one more" mentality that so many of us have developed in this 24/7 world we live in and replace it with the healthier mantra of "One more hour of sleep can ...
- keep me in the workforce until I decide I'm ready to retire
- keep me looking and feeling years younger
- keep my brain neurons alive and thriving
- help me keep my weight down,
- keep me healthy, and
- hopefully, add years to my life."
To help ensure better sleep, check out 5 Strategies to Ensure a Great Night's Sleep.
Happy dreaming!
© 2014 Sherrie Bourg Carter, All Rights Reserved
Follow Dr. Bourg Carter on Facebook and Twitter.
Sherrie Bourg Carter is the author of High Octane Women: How Superachievers Can Avoid Burnout (Prometheus Books, 2011).