Recently, I (Leon) have treated a number of patients who were worried that their symptoms of insomnia might make them more susceptible to dementia. They believed they had insomnia because they were in their 70s and were waking up two or three times per night. However, they did not have the usual daytime impairments associated with sleeplessness.
For most people, these fleeting awakenings are typical and absolutely safe. The occasional light sleep phases that normally occur in between the four or five ninety-minute deep sleep cycles give rise to brief awakenings. You might assume that these awakenings are an indication of a sickness if you’re not familiar with this “rollercoaster” of 90-minute cycles. As people age, their sleep normally becomes lighter and shorter, which is completely normal and has no negative effects.
I thus told them that their sleeping patterns were typical and that they were not suffering from insomnia. This necessitates both nighttime symptoms and daytime impairments, such as weariness, cognitive issues, mild sadness, anger, agitation, or worry.
I hope that feeling of reassurance helped them avoid the kind of anxiety and panic that could have set off a series of circumstances that would have resulted in insomnia.
Is sleeplessness the cause?
So whence did my patients obtain the idea that dementia could result from their sleep problems? Let’s dissect this deluge of frightening data.
Large-scale surveys are typically the first to reveal a statistically significant link between sleep-related symptoms and the eventual development of dementia.
Initially, a common question in these investigations is how long subjects usually sleep. Individuals who report sleeping fewer than six hours per night have a marginally increased but statistically significant risk of dementia.
These studies don’t specify if participants have been officially diagnosed with clinical insomnia. Rather, they depend only on participants’ imprecise estimations of their sleep duration.
A large number of persons without insomnia who do not give themselves enough time to sleep would have been included in the trials as well. It’s possible that they had a late-night gaming or socializing routine.
Put differently, we are unsure of the percentage of short sleepers who are actually enduring chronic sleep loss rather than insomnia and are just overestimating their sleep issues.
What’s actually meant by the numbers?
Interpreting what is meant by “statistically significant” is a second issue. All it indicates is that there was little likelihood the outcomes came about by accident. How concerned should we be if a single study indicates a 20% higher chance of a physical health issue linked to insomnia? This one finding does not always imply that it should be taken into account in day-to-day activities.
Additionally, studies linking sleeplessness to health hazards are usually contradictory. For instance, a very large UK study revealed no correlation between the amount of sleep or difficulty sleeping and dementia risk, despite previous studies finding slight increases in dementia risk with insomnia.
What background exists?
A third issue is informing the public in a fair and impartial manner about the possible risks associated with sleeplessness. With assistance from the researcher’s organization, some members of the mainstream media will publish findings from studies that indicate a statistically significant rise in the likelihood of a terrifying illness like dementia.
However, not all media stories inquire about the risk’s clinical significance, the existence of competing theories, or how this finding stacks up against the findings of other studies. Therefore, there is no background available to the public to counter the alarming “increased risk” narrative. The terrifying discovery is then made more widely known by sharing this story on social media.
Diabetes, obesity, and hypertension
We’ve used dementia as one illustration of how anxieties about the possible harm that sleeplessness may cause to one’s physical health might emerge and intensify. However, we might have made advantage of a possible elevated risk of diabetes, obesity, or hypertension. Though experts disagree as to whether these associations are genuine, significant, or connected to insomnia, all have been linked to shorter sleep durations.
There is no proof that sleep symptoms alone cause a person to live a shorter life, according to our analysis of how sleep issues affect life expectancy. There is only a slight chance of dying before your time when daytime symptoms like weariness, memory issues, and anxiety are present. It’s challenging to determine, though, whether the additional mortality might be attributed to symptoms of brain, liver, kidney, or heart disease that go untreated throughout the day.
We ought to be discussing mental health.
On the other hand, there is more proof that sleeplessness is linked to a higher risk of mental health issues, including depression.
The quality of life is undoubtedly diminished by the common daytime impairments of weariness, distress, cognitive impairments, and irritation. Life starts to become less fun and more difficult. For some people, this can eventually lead to despair and depression. This justifies getting assistance in order to enhance sleep and general well-being.
Individuals experiencing these issues ought to consult a medical professional. The good news is that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBTi, is a long-term, non-pharmacological treatment that works well and has no negative side effects. Better still, effective CBTi also lessens mental distress and depressive symptoms.
Unnecessary panic brought on by articles implying that sleeplessness poses major risks to one’s physical health is not beneficial. Rather than helping to reduce sleeplessness, this dread is more likely to make it worse.
