A healthy sleep pattern is associated with lower risks of digestive diseases, regardless of patients’ genetic susceptibility, researchers reported at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in Washington.
Analyzing data on 410,586 people in a UK registry, they identified those with any of five healthy sleep behaviors:
- going to sleep early and waking early - a so-called morning "lark" chronotype;
- sleeping for 7-8 hours per day;
- never or rarely experiencing insomnia symptoms;
- no self-reported snoring; and
- rarely feeling sleepy during the daytime.
They constructed a “sleep score” that ranged from 0 to 5, depending on how many of these sleep behaviors each person had reported.
After a median follow-up of 13.2 years, those with a score of 5 had a 28% lower risk of any digestive disease versus a score of 0-1.
They also had:
- a 34% lower risk for dyspepsia,
- a 50% lower risk for irritable bowel syndrome,
- a 28% lower risk for constipation,
- a 35% lower risk for peptic ulcer,
- a 32% lower risk for gastroesophageal reflux disease,
- an 18% lower risk for gallbladder disease,
- a 24% lower risk for severe liver disease,
- a 37% lower risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and
- a 25% lower risk for diverticulosis.
Participants with poor sleep and a high genetic risk had up to a twofold higher likelihood of digestive diseases compared to those with healthy sleep and low genetic risk.
At every level of genetic risk, healthier sleep patterns were correlated with lower digestive disease risks, said Shiyi Yu of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital in China, who worked on the study.
“Our findings underscore the potential holistic impact of different sleep behaviors in mitigating the risk of digestive diseases,” her team concluded.