According to a new study, men can live five years longer and women two years longer by following these five sleep habits.
“If people follow all these good sleep behaviors, they’re more likely to live longer,” Dr. Frank Qian, a clinical-scientist at Harvard Medical School, told CNN.
Here are his five tips for reducing the risk of premature death:
1- Make sure you get seven to eight hours of sleep a night
2- Try to fall asleep quickly and easily
3- Arrange to get as much undisturbed restful sleep as possible
4- Make sure you are well rested at least five days a week
5- Avoid sleeping pills.
You can train your brain to sleep better by adopting more regular habits, as well as by making sure your sleep environment is optimal, i.e. cool, dark, and quiet. Avoiding alcohol is recommended.
“Recent studies have linked irregular sleep pattern and duration to metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease risk,” said Dr. Raj Dasgupta, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.
The study was based on data from more than 172,000 people between 2013 and 2018 and was matched with National Death Index records.
“Compared to people with a zero or favorable sleep factor, people with all five were 30% less likely to die from any cause, 21% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and 19% less likely to die from cancer,” according to a report on the study.
Men who adopted these five daily habits lived 4.7 years longer. Among women, the average was 2.4 years older.
According to the study, this difference makes it harder for women to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea, a life-threatening condition in which breathing stops every few minutes.
“Women with obstructive sleep apnea are often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed because they don’t have the classic symptoms that we see when we evaluate men,” Dr. Dasgupta said.
