Studies indicate that lacking sufficient sleep over an extended time increases the likelihood of early mortality and impairs your immune function.
Three days without sleep and a person typically cannot speak clearly or walk steadily. Add another two days and he or she is likely to be hallucinating and on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Sleep deprivation
is bad, in other words, and even without being subjected to the extremes of being awake for days on end, prolonged periods of not getting the recommended 7 to 8 hours a night can lead to severe health consequences.
A team of US-based doctors and scientists found
“suboptimal” sleep
measured over five years can lead to a 29 per cent increase in risk of “all-cause mortality”.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with
SCMP Knowledge
Our latest platform features handpicked content including explainers, FAQs, analyses, and infographics, all provided by our prize-winning crew.
Published by the American Medical Association (AMA), the research involved studying 46,000 people and highlighted the need to maintain ”
healthy sleep duration
Over time, maintain good health to remain fit and avoid the possibility of premature demise.
The AMA study was conducted following research published in The Journal of Immunology, which demonstrated that a single night of poor sleep in a healthy young individual can adversely impact immune cells. This indicates that consistently lacking adequate sleep over an extended period might increase a person’s likelihood of experiencing such issues.
inflammation
but undermine the immune system.
Based at the Dasman Diabetes Institute in Kuwait, the team found that while being overweight contributes to the likelihood of inflammation, what they called “mediation analyses” showed sleep disruption “independently contributes” to inflammation whether or not
obesity
is a factor.
Like what you read? Follow SCMP Lifestyle on
Facebook
,
X
and
Instagram
. You can also sign up for our eNewsletter
here
.
More Articles from SCMP
Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park ‘new stage’ for mega-events economy
Justifying sizzles on debut at Sha Tin: ‘he’s a very fast horse’
Hong Kong’s upcoming guidelines for AI development and use ‘on the way’
Taiwan aims to increase defense expenditures to 3% of its GDP. Could this alleviate U.S. pressures?
The article initially appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), which serves as the premier source for news coverage of China and Asia.
Copyright © 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
