Are those who regularly consume sleeping pills more at risk of death than those who do not? Luigi Ferini Strambi, professor of Neurology and director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the IRCCS San Raffaele hospital in Milan, answers the question: “We know that insomnia, based not only on subjective data but also on evidence of reduced nighttime sleep time, leads to a greater risk of mortality.”
A recent study carried out in Asia to 484,000 people yields this conclusion, but it has several weaknesses such as that it does not take into account the type or dose of the hypnotic drug used, nor the duration of treatment. “Reduced sleep time is implicated in increasing cardiovascular risk: in fact, after falling asleep, heart rate and blood pressure begin to decrease because the release of cortisol is inhibited. In insomniacs, cortisol levels decrease. remain high and, therefore, the “dipping” phenomenon is not observed, that is, the physiological reduction of blood pressure values. Add.
There are also other factors that may come into play in the relationship between sleep reduction and vascular pathologies: obesity and diabetes. Lack of sleep tends to make us eat more, and Lack of sleep leads to the search for unhealthy foods and rich in calories. Researchers from King’s College London demonstrated a few years ago that, after a night with less than six hours of sleep, 385 more kilocalories are ingested.
Longitudinal studies in the general population have shown that sleeping less than six hours per night increases the risk of developing type two diabetes mellitus by approximately 50%, compared to those who sleep at least seven hours. Finally, insomniacs have an altered immune response, with lower secretion of interferon-gamma, lower activity of “natural killer” cells and reduced levels of interleukin-2, explains this expert.
Returning, then, to the initial question, this specialist assures that some considerations must be made: