Quality and adequate sleep is not limited to rejuvenating the body and mind, but can also impact long-term health.
A new British study revealed that more dream-rich sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases.
The study, published in the medical journal PLOS Medicine, analyzed sleep and health information from 95,559 UK adults.
According to the researchers, a greater amount of deep sleep was associated with a lower risk of 7 diseases.
These findings add to previous research that has linked poor sleep to a variety of health problems, but the new study takes a more detailed look at how different sleep stages and patterns may be linked to disease risk.
More accurate sleep monitoring
In this study, instead of the participants’ statements, the researchers analyzed data from the participants’ wrist-worn devices, which monitored the participants’ physical activity and estimated their sleep patterns.
Participants wore the devices for a week, which allowed researchers to assess overall sleep duration as well as time spent in different sleep stages, including light, deep and REM sleep.
The average age of the participants was 56.2 years and they were followed for an average of 8.9 years, during which the researchers recorded disease diagnoses and deaths.
REM sleep linked to lower disease risk
According to the researchers, a higher amount of REM sleep at the start of the study was associated with a lower risk of developing more than 80 diseases.
These diseases included heart failure, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, arterial disease, parkinsonism, multiple sclerosis and several diseases affecting memory and mental abilities.
REM sleep is the stage of sleep most associated with vivid and vivid dreaming. During this time, brain activity also increases.
The study also found that more deep sleep was associated with a lower risk of 7 diseases, including type 2 diabetes, major depression, sleep apnea and Parkinson’s disease.
Poor sleep does not necessarily cause disease
The researchers caution that the study results only show correlations, not proving that specific sleep patterns directly cause or protect against a disease.
One possible explanation for this could be ‘reverse causation’, in which a pre-existing disease affects sleep, rather than sleep causing the disease.For example, sleep disturbances are common in people with depression, so sleep disturbances may be a consequence of depression, not necessarily its cause.
Because of this, the researchers said that the results should be interpreted with caution and that the study does not prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between sleep and disease.
Light sleep and wakefulness at night
The researchers also looked at light sleep and the duration of wakefulness after initially falling asleep.
Spending more time in light sleep was associated with a higher risk of certain diseases, including major depression, but it was also associated with a lower risk of certain other diseases, including heart failure and a certain bacterial infection affecting the skin.
Staying up longer after bedtime was linked to a higher risk of 6 diseases, including substance dependence and osteoarthritis. Irregular sleep patterns were also associated with a higher risk of stomach pain, anxiety and severe depression.
The study also found that sleeping longer was associated with a lower risk of more than 80 diseases, but similar to the findings on individual sleep stages, the researchers’ observations did not prove that sleeping longer directly prevented these diseases.
The research findings highlight the importance of not just total sleep duration, but also sleep quality, structure, and regularity when evaluating the relationship between sleep and long-term health.
Note: This is an informational article, consult a doctor for diagnosis and treatment of any of your ailments.