Too little sleep may lead to asthma attacks in adults

New York, May 12 A good night’s sleep is crucial to good health because researchers have found that too little sleep, and occasionally too much sleep, can negatively impact adults with asthma.

Previous research revealed that poor sleep quality has a negative effect on asthma symptoms in adolescents.

“Our study shows that adults with asthma are equally affected by too little (or sometimes too much) sleep,” said study lead author Faith Luyster from the University of Pittsburgh in the US.

Compared to normal sleepers, short and long sleepers had a higher proportion of people who reported having an asthma attack in the past year (45 per cent vs. 59 per cent and 51 per cent respectively) and had more days with impaired health-related quality of life.

According to the researchers, impaired quality of life was characterised by more days of poor physical and mental health.For the findings, published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the research team surveyed 1,389 adults who were 20 years and older who self-identified as having asthma.A Of the group, 25.9 per cent slept 5 hours or less, 65.9 per cent slept 6-8 hours and 8.2 per cent slept 9 or more hours

Sleep duration was measured by a single question, “How much sleep do you usually get at night on weekdays or workdays?”

“Short sleepers” were more likely to be younger and non-White, while “long sleep were more likely to be older, female and a smoker. Short sleepers, as compared to normal sleepers, had a greater likelihood of an asthma attack, dry cough, and an overnight hospitalisation during the past year.

Short sleepers also had the significantly worse health-related quality of life — including days of poor physical and mental health and inactive days due to poor health — and more frequent general healthcare use during the past year as compared to normal sleepers.

“This study adds solid evidence to the practice of asthma patients discussing sleep issues with their allergist to help determine if they need to change their asthma plan to achieve adequate sleep as a component of overall good asthma management,” said Gailen D Marshall, Editor-in-Chief of Annals Journal.