Five healthy sleep habits for a longer life
It turns out that a good night’s sleep can add years to your life. In a new study to be presented next month at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology, researchers found that young people with more beneficial sleep habits were less likely to die early.
The study, which included data from 172,321 people with an average age of 50 and 54% women, found that following certain sleep patterns can extend the life expectancy of a man by almost five years and that of a woman by about 2.5 years .
Approximately two-thirds of the participants reported being white, 14.5% Hispanic, 12.6% Black, and 5.5% Asian. The participants were followed for about 4.3 years, during which 8,681 people died. 30% of these deaths were due to cardiovascular disease; 24% were due to cancer and 46% to other causes.
Based on an assessment of five different factors of quality sleep, the researchers determined the most important habits for quality sleep:
- Seven to eight hours of sleep a night
- Difficulty falling asleep no more than twice a week
- Insomnia at most twice a week
- Don’t use sleeping pills
- Waking up feeling rested at least five days a week
“If people have all of these ideal sleep patterns, they will be more likely to live longer,” says Dr. Frank Qian, resident physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study, said in a press release about the study. “So if we can improve sleep overall, and detecting sleep disorders is particularly important, we may be able to prevent some of that premature mortality.”
Further research is determined to better understand why men lived twice as long compared to women who also got the same quality of sleep.
“If people can develop these good sleep habits from a young age, of getting adequate sleep, making sure they sleep without too many distractions, and overall having good sleep hygiene, it can greatly benefit their overall long-term health,” Qian added. “It is important for younger people to understand that many health behaviors are cumulative over time. Just as we like to say, “It’s never too late to exercise or quit smoking,” it’s never too early. And we should talk about and evaluate sleep more often.”
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