Inadequate sleep may shave years off one’s life, and the consequences may be amplified if one doesn’t receive enough physical exercise.
Exercise And Sleep Go Hand In Hand For A Good Overall Health
That is unfortunate news. The good news is that taking more exercise may help counteract some of the health concerns associated with low-quality sleep, according to a recent study.
Over a decade of follow-up, those who scored low in both sleep and activity were 57 percent more likely to die from heart disease, stroke, and cancer than those who reported receiving more sleep and exercise.
According to research co-author Emmanuel Stamatakis, physical inactivity appears to enhance the health consequences of poor sleep patterns synergistically.
According to Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle, and population health at the University of Sydney in Australia, the combined risk of death from physical inactivity and bad sleep is greater than the sum of the independent hazards of poor sleep and physical inactivity.
However, obtaining at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week appears to mitigate these impacts, according to him.
The study was not meant to determine how, or even if, poor sleep and lack of exercise interact, but researchers do have hypotheses.
According to Stamatakis, many sleep disorders, such as short sleep or insomnia, induce hormonal and metabolic malfunction and inflammation, as well as stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. When the sympathetic nervous system is engaged, stress hormones are released, which can elevate heart rate and blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart disease over time.
Physical exercise, according to Stamatakis, acts on the same pathways but in the other direction. According to him, one possible explanation is that regular activity helps to mitigate some of the negative effects of inadequate sleep.
The researchers reviewed data from more than 380,000 middle-aged men and women who took part in the large-scale U.K. Biobank survey for the study.
People were assigned a sleep score of 0 to 5 based on a variety of characteristics, including whether they generally slept seven to eight hours per night, experienced frequent sleeplessness, snored, felt weary during the day, or were a night owl or morning lark.
The sleep score was paired with a physical activity score of high, medium, or low, and participants were classified based on different combinations of sleep and exercise scores.
During the 11-year follow-up, the lower the sleep score, the greater the chance of dying from any cause. Exercise, on the other hand, mitigated some of these effects.
Stamatakis recommended someone who moved very little, in general, begin with little quantities of physical exercise of around 10-15 minutes per day that may comfortably fit into their routine and gradually increase to 25-30 minutes per day.
There will also be positive effects on their sleep. Physical activity increases sleep quality, thus they will reap the immediate advantages of physical activity/exercise while also receiving some assistance with their sleep difficulties, according to Stamatakis.
The research was not without flaws. Because people only gave data on their sleep and physical activity at one moment in time, researchers can’t tell if these behaviors altered over time.
The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on June 29.
People who have difficulties sleeping but manage to exercise consistently are in a better position than those who do not exercise and have sleep problems, according to Dr. Gulati, editor-in-chief of CardioSmart.org, the American College of Cardiology’s patient education website.
According to Gulati, who has no links to the current study, this is the first study she has seen that looks at how sleep and exercise interact. There seems to be a connection between the two, but more study is needed to clarify how to sleep and exercise influence health.
She believes that if they do not get enough sleep, they would be too exhausted to exercise. It’s also conceivable that an underlying medical issue is disrupting their sleep.