Getting enough sleep could cut the risk of asthma

The background: According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, seven hours is the lower limit for how much sleep you should get per night. Younger adults and those recovering from sleep debt and/or dealing with sleep illnesses may need closer to nine hours, but seven is our jumping-off point. This recommendation was created after a panel of experts reviewed hundreds of sleep studies.

More recently: Asthma affects over 300 million people in the world. So, over the past decade, scientists at the Shandong University of China have been conducting a study to see how sleep affects the risk of asthma. Through the study, researchers used data from 455,405 people between the ages of 38 and 73. Scientists haven’t been able to figure out why some people develop the condition when others don’t, even when considering genetic and environmental factors.

The development: The study recently ended, and the findings were just published. When the study began, participants were asked about their sleeping patterns. A healthy sleep pattern was defined as being more of a morning person, sleeping for seven to nine hours a night, not really experiencing insomnia, not snoring and not having a lot of daytime sleepiness. Everyone had an asthma score created based on their genetics, too. A decade later, the results show that those with both a high genetic risk and poor sleep habits were twice as likely to be diagnosed with asthma than those in a low-risk group. And healthy sleep patterns appear to be linked to a lower risk of asthma, no matter the genetic risk.

Key comments:

“Unhealthy sleep patterns and sleep traits … were significantly associated with the risk of asthma in adults,” the researchers wrote. “The combination of poor sleep pattern and high susceptibility could lead to additive asthma risk. A healthier sleep pattern could be beneficial in asthma prevention regardless of genetic conditions.”

“The negative impact of sleep disorders on asthma, which is generally considered a chronic inflammatory disease, might be mediated by sleep-induced chronic inflammation. Previous studies have demonstrated that sleep disorders, such as unfavorable sleep duration and insomnia, are associated with chronic inflammation. In theory, the immune response to inflammation could generate pro-inflammatory cytokines that result in cellular infiltration and airway inflammation, further increasing the risk of asthma,” researchers explained.

“This research suggests there’s a link between asthma and not getting enough sleep, although it’s too early to say that treating poor sleep could reduce someone’s risk of developing asthma,” said Dr. Erika Kennington, head of research and innovation at Asthma and Lung UK.