"Sleeping Like This is Dangerous" Korean Habit 'This' Increases Risk

[Financial News]  A long-term follow-up study has found that Koreans' lack of sleep and irregular sleeping habits can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. In particular, if the daily sleep time is less than 7 hours or more than 8 hours and the sleep pattern is irregular, the risk of death rises significantly.
On the 19th, according to a paper by the Hanyang University Hospital Cardiology research team (Jin-Gyu Park, Byung-Sik Kim, Jin-Sun Park, Su-Jeong Park) published in the international journal Scientific Reports, the researchers conducted a follow-up observation for an average of 15.5 years on 9,641 adults aged 40-69 registered in the cohort of Anseong and Ansan regions in Gyeonggi-do. As a result, sleep time and regularity showed a clear correlation with the risk of death.
Compared to people who maintained an appropriate sleep time (7 hours or more but less than 8 hours), those who slept more than 8 hours had a 27% higher risk of death. Even in cases of sleeping less than 7 hours, the risk increased by 11%, but it was not statistically significant compared to long sleep.
However, when excessively short or long sleep was combined with 'irregular sleep patterns', the risk increased sharply. When irregular sleep was added to short sleep of less than 7 hours, the risk of death increased by 28%, and when continuing irregular life with long sleep of more than 8 hours, the risk increased by 33%.
Gender differences were also confirmed. For men, the risk of death increased by up to 38% when short sleep and irregularity overlapped, while for women, the risk jumped to as much as 78% when long sleep and irregularity overlapped. By age group, those in their 40s were more vulnerable to lack of sleep, while those over 60 were more vulnerable to excessive sleep.
The research team explained, "Sleep deprivation or excessive sleep, low sleep quality, and disorders such as sleep apnea can worsen cardiovascular health and lead to premature death."
Professor Jin-Gyu Park of Hanyang University Hospital Cardiology said, "For sleep health, it is most important to go to bed regularly every day and secure 7-8 hours a day," and emphasized, "Since there are significant differences according to age and gender, a personalized sleep management strategy is necessary."




jjw@fnnews.com Ji-Woo Jeong Reporter