Sleep protects against age-related health problems

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According to scientists, one of the ways to achieve longevity is adequate, sufficient sleep – due to this, the number of age-related diseases decreases.

Many studies have shown that lack of sleep increases the risk of developing serious diseases, including obesity, diabetes, dementia and cardiovascular pathologies – in short, those of age health problems that shorten human life.

“The lack of adequate sleep is associated with a reduction in life expectancy,” say scientists.

Oxford Academic published the results of a study, the authors of which analyzed sleep and mortality using data from a 22-year follow-up of twins (21,268 twins over the age of 18).

The subjects were divided into groups depending on the duration of their sleep: short (less than 7 hours) , medium or advanced (more than 8 hours). The scientists concluded that there is a “complex relationship between sleep and mortality” in cases where the duration of sleep is increased or, on the contrary, too short.

In particular, insufficient sleep and sleeping longer than average are related with a higher risk of age-related health problems such as dementia. Long-lived people, in turn, have a positive relationship between sleep quality, survival, and aging.

“Our study showed that regular sleep patterns can help synchronize adequate hormone secretion, and together with a healthy diet, this is especially effective contributes to reducing cardiovascular risk and increasing life expectancy”, experts summarized.