14 DAY TRIAL // A team of investigators from the Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital discovered at the end of a 6-year study that insomnia and lack of sleep increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in men by more than 55 percent. The research kept track of 23,447 men, out of which around 2,000 died during the study.
In men who reported insomnia, death risks were found to be 25 percent higher than in men who reported sleeping normally. Researchers believe this risk is due to rises in inflammation levels, or disturbances in endocrine functions, all caused by severe lack of sleep, NPR reports.
In a paper published in the November 20 issue of the esteemed medical journal Circulation, the team says that insomnia was not the direct cause of these deaths, but rather an associated factor that contributed to the test subjects' early demise.
The conclusions presented in this new research are very worrying, when considering that nearly a third of the entire population living in the United States reports at least one type of sleep disturbance. The new findings could help inform public policy on promoting healthy sleeping patterns.