One of the most common topics of discussion among adults is how poorly they tend to sleep, and the ongoing mystery of why.
For many, the causes of insomnia remain unidentified, adding to their frustration and stress. Understanding why sleep is disturbed or elusive is imperative to protecting robust health and stable well-being.
Poor Sleep and Disease Risk
A new study finds that insufficient sleep may significantly influence as many as 172 diseases and disorders. This global study assessed the sleep habits of 88,461 adults in the UK Biobank and used actigraphy data collected over an average of 6.8 years.
In the study, participants wore accelerometers which allowed researchers to objectively measure multiple dimensions of sleep: nocturnal sleep duration and onset timing, sleep rhythm and sleep fragmentation. During the follow-up period, 172 diseases were found to be associated with sleep traits. Alarmingly, among them, 42 diseases showed at least a doubled risk. The researchers identified that 92 diseases had over 20% of their risk attributable to poor sleep behavior.
Another finding challenges the commonly held belief that sleeping more than 9 hours is harmful to health. The researchers did not find an association between more than 8 hours of sleep and any disease risk. Therefore, they suggest that it may be time to redefine what constitutes “good sleep”, emphasizing that the definition should include regularity as well as duration. Additionally, their research highlights sleep regularity such as consistent bedtimes and stable circadian rhythms as an underrecognized but critical factor in disease risk.
AHA’s New Sleep Recommendations
The American Heart Association’s (AHA’s) new recommendations appear to align with and support these findings. Addressing sleep components such as duration, time to sleep onset, and quality of daytime functioning may help reduce cardiometabolic risks, according to a new scientific statement from the AHA.
The statement, “Multidimensional Sleep Health: Definitions and Implications for Cardiometabolic Health,” describes multiple components of sleep health, such as sleep duration, continuity, timing, satisfaction, regularity and daytime functioning. It reviews the latest evidence on the relationship between sleep and various cardiometabolic health factors, including body fat, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure, emphasizing how healthy sleep positively impacts both physical health and mental well-being.
“Most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night, and suboptimal sleep raises the risk for cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, depression, obesity, as well as high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels,” said Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, chair of the scientific statement writing group. “However, there is increasing evidence that sleep health is about more than just the number of hours you sleep each night.”
Poor Sleep Influences Cognitive Performance
Adults entering middle age (late 30s and 40s), may be more likely to experience memory and cognitive dysfunction if they regularly have disrupted sleep, according to a recent study.
“Given that signs of Alzheimer’s disease start to accumulate in the brain several decades before symptoms appear, understanding the connection between sleep and cognition earlier in life is critical for evaluating sleep problems as a risk factor for the disease,” said study author Yue Leng, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. “Our findings indicate that the quality rather than the quantity of sleep matters most for cognitive health in middle age.”
The study followed 526 participants with an average age of 40, over 11 years. Their sleep duration and quality were assessed using wrist activity monitors worn for three consecutive days on two occasions about a year apart. Participants also completed a series of memory and cognitive performance tests.
Researchers focused on sleep fragmentation, which measures repeated short interruptions of sleep. On average, participants had a sleep fragmentation score of 19%. Researchers then divided participants into three groups based on these scores.
Of the 175 participants with the most disrupted sleep, 44 showed poor cognitive performance 10 years later, compared to 10 of the 176 with the least disrupted sleep.
Overall, those with the most disrupted sleep had more than twice the odds of poor cognitive performance.
Disrupted sleep can be caused by several factors including stress, excessive exposure to blue light from digital devices before bedtime, heavy meals, and alcohol consumption. Addressing these factors can improve sleep onset, duration and quality, ultimately supporting better cognitive health.
Daytime Activity Impacts Sleep
A new, first-of-its-kind study suggests that the way individuals structure their day, especially when exercise is a part of the normal routine significantly influences sleep. Researchers examined time use patterns and different aspects of sleep among 1360 adults with an average age of 44. They found that participants who engaged in higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity experienced less disrupted sleep, reduced daytime tiredness, and overall better sleep quality.
Lead researcher Lisa Matricciani, PhD commented, “When people think about sleep quality, they tend to focus on adjustments made immediately before bedtime. But our research found that daytime activities are tied to different aspects of sleep, from quality efficiency, and total sleep duration to levels of tiredness during the day.”
The Role of Melotime™ Melatonin
Melatonin is often top-of-mind for individuals seeking to improve their sleep, helping reduce insomnia and restless nights. According to Nutrition Business Journal’s 2023 Condition Specific Report, melatonin remains one of the fastest-growing and most widely used supplements in the US sleep-health category.
However, many melatonin products come with a limitation: while they may help users fall asleep quickly, their effects typically last only about four hour. This often leads to waking up in the middle of the night and not achieving a full, restorative sleep cycle.
Melotime™ is different. It provides a complete 8 hours of healthy, restorative sleep without the morning sluggishness.
Melotime™ utilizes a patented sustained-release technology that ensures a steady melatonin release throughout 8 hours, as supported by an open-label, cross-over pharmacokinetic study. The study demonstrated that Melotime™ achieves optimized peak plasma concentrations and delivers a 5-fold extended half-life compared to immediate-release melatonin. This result: faster sleep onset and stable, sustained sleep maintenance without the need for repeated dosing.
Unlike immediate-release formulations, which creates sharp peaks in melatonin concentration, Melotime delivers controlled release. This helps ensure melatonin levels remain balanced, especially during critical early morning hours, promoting safer and more consistent and healthier sleep patterns.
Reviewed by Sneha Sawant Desai, PhD
