Do you underestimate poor sleep? It’s a risk factor similar to high blood pressure

A risk factor on par with high blood pressure

In the near future smart technology in your own cell phone may track how well you’re sleeping, and the results may prevent you from securing a life insurance policy—just like a high blood pressure measurement does today.

If you’re not unnerved by having your insurance company track your sleep habits, you should at least sit up and take notice of the fact that even the insurance industry has recognized how detrimental poor sleep is.

“Shorter sleep and fragmented sleep interrupt key biological pathways and mechanisms such as our endocrine functioning and over-activation of our autonomic nervous system. These negatively impact our immune function, blood pressure, inflammatory markers, and insulin resistance,” researchers at Swiss Re wrote in their 2020 paper.

Widespread problem

According to the World Sleep Society, sleep deprivation is threatening the health of up to 45% of the world’s population.

Depending on our age, we are supposed to get between seven and 10 hours of sleep each night. But one in three Americans don’t get enough sleep, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to researchers, “poor sleep” is not simply insomnia. It can also mean too little sleep, too much sleep, or “disruptive sleep.”

While the Swiss researchers were mostly interested in the implications that poor sleep had on cardiovascular disease, studies have linked poor sleep to numerous health conditions.

Diabetes

Inadequate sleep is strongly associated with impaired glucose metabolism which leads to insulin resistance and increased risk of developing conditions like diabetes.

A 2018 Chinese study found that the risk of developing pre-diabetes was significantly higher for individuals who slept less than 6 hours per night compared to individuals who received 6-8 hours per night.

Another study—a large meta-analysis—published in 2016 found the risk of developing diabetes when sleeping less than 5 hours and more than 9 hours per night was 1.48 and 1.36 times higher respectively.

Dementia

A 2020 study found older adults who have significant difficulty falling asleep and who experience frequent night awakenings are at high risk for developing dementia.

Immune system/inflammation

A new 2022 study showed chronic sleep deprivation made the immune system go into overdrive, causing excessive inflammation. The study was done at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Weight gain

Another 2022 study found that lack of sufficient sleep led to significant weight gain. Specifically, when insufficient sleep subjects were compared to a control group, there was a 9% increase in total abdominal fat area and an 11% increase in abdominal visceral fat. The study was conducted by Mayo Clinic and the results were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Early death

In addition to being linked to individual diseases, the most disturbing connection that is now certain is that of early death from all causes. A 2021 European study on 8001 people found that disrupted sleep was linked to increased risk of early death from any cause, particularly in women.