Sleeping less than 5 hours a night can increase your risk

Getting enough sleep is a challenge for many, especially as we near stressful holidays and family celebrations. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 50 to 70 million Americans have trouble sleeping. Not only are these problems annoying, they also affect factors ranging from your weight to your mood.

Now researchers have found another aspect that is affected by poor sleep: diabetes.

A new study published in the journal Nature and Science of Sleep collected data from over 80,000 adults, with a mean age of 62 years. Participants who regularly slept for less than 5 hours had diabetes 58% more often than participants who slept 7 and 8 hours a night in between.

Photo by Mert Kahveci via Unsplash

RELATED: Let’s Talk About Why Sleep Is Important – And How To Get It

Irregular sleep patterns have also been linked to heart disease. “Those who sleep less than 5 hours a night are 36 percent, 25 percent, 33 percent, 27 percent, 37 percent, and 36 percent more likely to have hypertension, ischemic heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, cerebrovascular heart disease, and other forms of heart disease or illness of the arteries, arterioles and capillaries, ”explain the authors of the study.

RELATED: How Sleep Deprivation Triggers the Nibbles Just Like Marijuana

That said, the study also found that poor sleep correlated with a 106% and 44% increased risk of mental and mood disorders, respectively. These results have been confirmed in a large number of studies.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (AMNI), sleep problems are signs or side effects of a variety of mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder and depression. Insomnia cases are associated with depression, anxiety and psychological stress in 50% of the cases.

RELATED: These people increase their risk of dementia by getting too little sleep

Sleep is one of the things we like to sacrifice when life gets in the way, putting our work and social life in front of us to achieve the things we want to get done. That is understandable. While the occasional sleepless night may not be crippling, sleep is a very delicate activity that is necessary for our functioning and that can be easily disturbed. Dozens of experts have said that prioritizing can only affect us for the better, resulting in healthier minds and bodies.