Little sleep a health risk

There is no doubt that sleeping little and badly can cause fatigue, irritability and concentration problems. What is not so clear is that it can affect the immune system and increase the risk of a number of diseases. Many international studies link the lack of sleep to problems of hypertension, heart disease, obesity, depression, diabetes, and even some cancers. Faced with this evidence, the Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, the International University of Catalonia and the AdSalutem Foundation Institute for Healthy Sleep have joined forces to create the Observatori Global del Son (Global Sleep Observatory). The aim is to conduct research, but above all to raise awareness of the benefits of sleeping well, both in society and in health institutions.

Setting the alarm at six in the morning to get an early start in the gym might sound like being a part of a healthy lifestyle says Ferran Barbé, a researcher at the Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida, but if that inteferes with good sleep, then it may not be the case. Sleep should be, he says, included as one of the pillars of heath, the avoidance of risk. “We must sleep seven to eight hours a day. Studies show that people who sleep six hours or less live eight years less.”

Aside from purely health considerations, poor sleep influences adolescents and school progress and has an important effect on hyperactive children. One study shows 7% of drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel, a fact that has caused 3.6% of fatal accidents. Barbé insists that “we must avoid stimulants and exercise before bed, disconnect phones some time beforehand and use the bed for sleeping.”