Another reason to get your sleep

Men with a complaint of chronic insomnia and short sleep duration have an elevated risk of death, a new study shows.

Compared to men without insomnia who slept for six hours or more, men with chronic insomnia who slept for less than six hours were four times more likely to die during the 14-year follow-up period. Results were adjusted for body mass index, smoking status, alcohol use, depression and obstructive sleep apnea. Further adjustments for hypertension and diabetes had little effect on the elevated mortality risk. No significant mortality risk was found in women with insomnia and a short sleep duration of less than six hours.

The study also found an even higher risk of death when men with chronic insomnia and a short sleep duration also had hypertension or diabetes. Previous studies based on the same cohort have shown that chronic insomnia with short sleep duration is associated with deficits in neurocognitive function and increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

The authors cautioned that six hours of sleep is not recommended as the optimum sleep duration for the general population. They used a six-hour cut-off point only for the statistical evaluation of the severity of insomnia. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports that most adults need seven to eight hours of nightly sleep to feel alert and well rested during the day.