Sleep like this and add years to your life

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Want to live longer? Next, prioritize sleep in your life. New research found.

“People who possess all of these ideal sleep behaviors are more likely to live longer,” says Harvard Medical School Medical School Clinical Fellow and Resident Physician of Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. said co-author of the study, Dr. Frank Cheng.

“It can improve overall sleep and may prevent premature death, especially if identification of sleep disorders is important,” Qian said in a statement.

What is your occupation? First, make sure you get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. This is difficult for many people. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But in addition to lying in bed longer, you also need frequent, restful, uninterrupted sleep. That means he doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night or fall asleep more than once a week. Also, you should be well rested at least 5 days a week when you wake up. Finally, sleeping pills cannot be used to fall asleep.

“We’re not just talking about sleep quality and quantity, but about regularity—getting the same good quality sleep every night,” says an associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School. Sleep expert Dr. Raj Dasgupta says: medicine. He was not involved in research.

“Recent studies have shown that irregularities in sleep timing and duration are associated with metabolic abnormalities and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” he said. Encouragement to maintain a regular sleep schedule with consistent sleep duration may be an important part of lifestyle recommendations for heart disease prevention.”

A preliminary study, presented Thursday at the American College of Cardiology annual meeting, analyzed data from more than 172,000 people who completed sleep questionnaires between 2013 and 2018 as part of the National Health Interview Survey. The annual survey is conducted by the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics.

A number was assigned to each of five healthy sleep habits — falling asleep easily, sleeping soundly, zzzing for 7-8 hours, resting and waking up, and no sleeping pills. People were scored on how many of the five habits they had.

About four years later, researchers compared these scores to records from the National Death Index to see if their sleep behavior contributed to premature death from a particular disease or cause.

The team then took into account other potential causes of increased mortality risk, including alcohol consumption, low socioeconomic status, and pre-existing medical conditions.

“People with all five favorable sleep factors were 30% less likely to die from any cause, 21% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and 21% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those with 0 to 1 favorable sleep factor. 19% less likely to die from cancer and 19% less likely to die from heart disease or non-cancer causes,” the study said in a statement.

Life expectancy for men who adhered to all five healthy sleep habits was 4.7 years longer than those with none or only one of the five components of low-risk sleep.

The impact of healthy sleep habits was much lower in women, with those who followed all five sleep habits lasting 2.4 years longer than those who did nothing or only one.

“That was an interesting part of the research for me, and I hope further research will find the answer,” Dasgupta said. One potential reason for the gender difference, he said, could be the difficulty in evaluating women for obstructive sleep apnea, a fatal condition in which breathing stops every few minutes. he added. The more severe apnea, the higher the risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.

“Women with obstructive sleep apnea are often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed because they may not show the typical symptoms seen when evaluating men.” Or maybe I need to look at another parameter, or is there something I’m missing here?”

Is your score less than 5?Don’t worry — the good news is you can Easily train your brain for better sleep By following the so-called “sleep hygiene”. It’s important to go to bed at the same time most nights and wake up at the same time most mornings, even on weekends and holidays.

Make sure your sleeping environment is optimal (the cooler and darker the better), block out noise or try a sound machine. Avoid drinking alcohol before bed. It may seem like you’re falling asleep, but experts say your body wakes up at 3 a.m. when your liver has finished metabolizing alcohol.

Set a sleep routine free of blue light and distractions at least an hour before bedtime. Meditation, yoga, tai chi, a hot bath, or anything else that relaxes you.

parents and caregivers Learning these habits and teaching them to your children will help them live longer, says Qian.

“If we can develop good sleep habits from an early age to ensure that we get enough sleep, sleep without distractions, and have good overall sleep hygiene, it can have significant long-term overall health benefits. can do. .

It’s often said, “It’s never too late to exercise or quit smoking,” but it’s never too early either. And sleep should be talked about and evaluated more often. ”