- Too little, or excessive, sleep triggers inflammation and disrupts our hormones
- Lack of sleep is associated with high blood copper levels, leading to cancer
- Disrupted sleep raises our risk of developing dementia by one-and-a-half times
- This may be due to protein accumulation that impacts memory and cell renewal
Alexandra Thompson Health Reporter For Mailonline
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Sleeping for more or less than seven or seven-and-a-half hours increases your risk of lung cancer and dementia, according to new research.
Too little, or excessive, shut eye is thought to cause low levels of inflammation in our bodies, as well as disrupting our ‘sleep hormone’, which drives tumour growth, the researchers said.
Lack of sleep is also associated with elevated copper levels in our blood, which further increases our cancer risk, they added.
Being disturbed from our nightly slumbers also raises our dementia risk by one-and-a-half times, the study found.
This may be due to an accumulation of a specific protein that reduces the region of the brain associated with memory and prevents brain cell regeneration, the researcher said.
Sleeping for more or less than 7-7.5 hours increases your lung cancer and dementia risk (stock)
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SLEEP DEPRIVATION TRIGGERS CELLS TO DESTROY THE BRAIN’S CONNECTIONS
Brain cells that destroy and remove ‘debris’ go into overdrive in sleep-deprived mice, according to new research.
While this may be beneficial in the short term, it could also increase the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, the researchers warn.
Scientists from Marche Polytechnic University, Italy, analysed the brains of mice who were allowed unlimited sleep, were kept awake for eight hours longer than normal or were denied sleep for five days.
They found a gene that regulates the brain’s ‘housekeeping’ is more active after sleep deprivation, New Scientist reported.
This can trigger cells to break down the brain’s connections, the study found.
Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland analysed 2,682 men participating in a 20 year-long trial known as the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Study.
The men were aged between 42 and 60 at the start of the study in 1984 to 1989.
Results revealed sleeping for less or more than seven or seven-and-a-half hours is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer.
This is thought to be due to low levels of inflammation and disruptions to the secretion of the ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin, leading to tumour growth.
The researchers also found an association between high copper levels in the blood and reduced sleep duration.
High amounts of copper contribute to processes that increase the risk of cancer, the researchers said.
The results, published in BMC Public Health, also found having disturbed sleep raises our dementia risk by 1.5 times.
An increased dementia risk is thought to be due to an accumulation of a protein, known as amyloid-beta, which reduces the volume of the region of the brain associated with memory, causes inflammation and prevents brain cell regeneration, the researchers said.
Study author Maria Luojus told MailOnline: ‘The new information from my study was that insomnia-related symptoms may occur 20 years before receiving the dementia diagnosis.
‘Previous studies concerning sleep and the risk of lung cancer propose increased lung cancer risk among those with daytime naps.
‘For dementia, short and long sleep, sleep disturbances and the use of sleeping pills both precede and co-occur with cognitive decline and dementia.’
This comes after researchers from Weill Cornel University in New York found lung cancer patients are four times more likely to commit suicide than sufferers of other forms of the disease.
The researchers speculate this may be due to lung cancer’s association with smoking, causing patients to feel guilty.
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