Irregular Sleep Schedule May Be Linked To Increased Risk Of Metabolic Disorders

A third of Americans aren't getting enough sleep, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And an irregular sleep schedule can increase the risk for hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity and high blood sugar, according to a June 2019 study by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, the study found that each hour that bedtime and sleep duration varies can create as much as a 27 percent increased risk of a metabolic disorder.

Taking into account average sleep duration, people whose bedtimes and hours slept varied more were found to have higher rates of metabolic disorders. Irregular bedtime schedules and hours sleeping were found to precede those abnormalities, suggesting evidence for “a causal link” between the two, authors of the study said.

People with a sleep duration that varied more than an hour were also more likely to fall within certain demographic categories: smokers, African-Americans, non-day shift workers and those with shorter sleep schedules. They also tended to have “higher depressive symptoms, total caloric intake and index of sleep apnea,” the research found.

An increase in bedtime irregularities or sleep duration was linked with simultaneous metabolic issues, including higher waist circumference, total triglycerides, blood pressure and fasting glucose, as well as lower HDL cholesterol.

Read more at The Houston Chronicle