Sleep Regularity Beats Sleep Duration as a Predictor of Mortality Risk
Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration
I discovered that maintaining a consistent sleep schedule matters far more for longevity than simply hitting a specific number of hours. While many obsess over getting eight hours, the rhythm of your sleep is the true driver of health outcomes. This shift in perspective suggests that prioritizing regularity could be the key to reducing mortality risk.
Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration.
- petilon
Magnesium supplementation solved my sleep issues.
I have seen many doctors, including sleep specialists, regarding insomnia. They all pointed to one source as the reason for the sleep issues: stress. And they all wanted to put me on prescription sleeping pills. I said no to that. Sleeping pills can cause dependence, and they often treat the symptom rather than the underlying cause. As a software developer, I am used to finding and fixing the underlying problem instead of relying on the quick fixes these doctors were offering me.
After much research, I figured out what I believe was the underlying problem, and the fix for it. The underlying problem was magnesium deficiency. As a software developer, I spend much of the day doing mentally demanding work. This is the kind of stress the doctors were talking about. Stress can increase the body's demand for magnesium and may contribute to low magnesium levels.
The cells in our body depend on minerals such as calcium and magnesium for normal function. In muscle and nerve cells, calcium helps switch the cell into an active state, while magnesium helps keep that activation under control and supports the return to a resting state. When you are low on magnesium, your muscles may remain tense and your nervous system may have a harder time settling down. That can contribute to muscle stiffness and difficulty sleeping.
The solution, in my case, was magnesium supplements. They fixed my muscle stiffness issues and my sleep issues. A special f […]
- A1kmm
I wonder how much of this is driven by confounding variables they haven't accounted for.
They do factor in shift work as a categorical variable, and employment status as a categorical variable not taking into account occupation. But probably occupation (not a variable here) interacts with sleep status. Any job that involves a lot of flying (pilot, crew, people travelling for business) get more cosmic radiation exposure, for example, and potentially more sleep disruption. Certain operations and manufacturing jobs correlated with exposure to carcinogens also likely correlate with less regular sleep, possibly in a way that isn't corrected for by the limited shift work categories.
- djoldman
As always with a lot of these: it's not saying causation.
You might measure the speed of your car by putting your hand out of the window and notice that the wind force on your hand is strong when the car goes fast.
Putting your hand out of the window and then blocking the wind with a book doesn't make the car slow down.
Keyword: "associated"
EDIT: I meant to communicate that it doesn't make the car slow down as much as your hand behind and blocked by the book (feeling almost no wind), would imply.
- nottorp
I wonder how many of these "surprising" results are markers of other life style decisions.
Regular sleeping hours as a marker for a less stressful life?
Also ran across this:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5105607/
I doubt it's the actual reading. Maybe having a calmer life where you take the time to relax with a book.
- pedalpete
We wrote about the "why" on our blog a few months ago [1], but the short version
Sleep is a complex interplay of multiple systems within the body. A consistent/regular schedule means the brain/body is not guessing what you are asking of it. It knows when to reduce cortisol, drop body temperature, etc. etc.
A simple example:
When you force yourself to stay awake longer, your body attempts to compensate by increasing cortisol, then when you try to go to bed later, it can't just switch off the cortisol. It needs to clear it in your system. Then the next domino falls of when does your brain/body expect you to wake up? What are you asking of it?
[1]https://blog.affectablesleep.com/p/the-hidden-work-of-sleep-...
- ssgodderidge
Couldn’t this effect be classic cause vs correlation?
Perhaps someone who has a consistent schedule is hypothetically more likely to make healthier choices on average?
- tsoukase
Studies that reach HN and other pop places usually have a lot in common: they link a widespread, modifiable and 'catchy' factor (like sleep, sugar/meat etc consumption, human relations) with a single sensational end point (death), and involve 5/6-figures number of participants. Another common one is a huge confounding spill that makes them useless for practical decisions but valuable for further, more rigorous research design.
- timbaboon
Largest medical insurance company (Discovery Health) in South Africa has just launched a sleep rewards program as part of their wellness program (Vitality). The idea is that you get rewarded for getting good sleeping scores... which is not entirely in your control, but anyway. Their model is built by looking at years of sleep data combined with health insurance claims. They place a large emphasis on sleep regularity. Anyway, just interesting to see this study come up and it seems to match up sort of with the Vitality stuff. There will ofc be many confounding variables though...
- sajithdilshan
My problem is that I'm always sleepy throughout the day and when I have to go to bed at nigh, then I feel so active and energetic, as if my body tries its best to avoid sleeping.
- AbstractH24
I have epilpsy, with an implanted device that both acts like a pacemaker and records my brainwaves.
Basically my doctor's biggest concern right now is making sure I don't die in my sleep because of something the device records that I and my wife never even know happened. Its a point of debate right now how much to disrupt my life with side-effects to do that.