British Study Suggests 30 Percent Increased Risk of Chronic Disease with Fewer Sleep Hours

Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com) –Some studies have shown that back pain may be a solid predictor of chronic pain. While lack of quality sleep has been associated with cognitive decline, as well as accidents in the workplace, several studies have suggested that sleeping less than 5 hours or more than 9 hours is associated with increased risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

A new study from researchers at the University College London in the United Kingdom, and Université Paris Cité, France may provide an even stronger incentive to encourage your middle-aged workers to get some quality sleep.

The study was recently published online in PLOS Medicine, and is the culmination of a 25-year follow up of a study that began in 1985 with 10,308 London office and British civil service employees. Sleep duration data was gathered 6 times between 1985 and 2016, and the data on sleep duration was extracted at age 50.

The researchers defined multimorbidity as having 2 or more of 13 chronic diseases, with follow up through March 2019. The researchers examined the association of sleep duration cross referenced with the incidence of multimorbidity at age 50, 60, and 70.

The researchers found that starting around age 50, sleeping less than 5 hours a night was associated with a 30 percent higher risk of developing multiple chronic diseases than sleeping 7 hours a night. By the age of 60, the risk increases to 32 percent, but by age 70, the risk increases to 40 percent. Additionally, the researchers found that at age 50, sleeping less than 5 hours was associated with a 20 percent increased risk of developing the first chronic disease. The increased risk associated with sleeping more than 9 hours did not occur until age 60, and then increased again at age 70.

The health issues for which there was a higher risk included not only dementia and depression, but also cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, coronary heart disease and heart failure, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and even arthritis.

While the researchers found a strong association of shorter sleep times with the development of chronic diseases, they did not find clear evidence of associations with death rates. The researchers also noted that there was no evidence of an increased risk overall of chronic diseases in those that slept for longer durations.

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