There is no denying how important enough sleep is for one’s health. After all, it is one of humanity’s basic needs, alongside diet and exercise. A night of good rest affects not only one’s physical health but also their mental health. Experts say that people need at least seven to nine hours of slumber each night to function well the next day, but this is not an easy case for everyone.
Did you know that women have more trouble sleeping at night than men? This is because they experience insomnia more, and their pregnancy, menstruation, or menopausal cycles make it even harder.
In this article, we will show how sleep has been linked to some health problems encountered by women today. Here are three studied facts that show how rest quality affects women’s health:
1. Those who wake up early have a lower risk of breast cancer
Every year, breast cancer impacts 2.1 million women, which is also the most significant cause of cancer-related deaths in women. According to a study conducted by the National Cancer Research Institute, women who rise early have a reduced risk of developing breast cancer.
In this research, they studied several hundred thousand women and found a surprising link between the way they sleep and breast cancer development. The study goes on to say that those who prefer and function better at the start of the day reduce the risk of getting breast cancer by 48 percent.
The same study also found some evidence that additional hours of rest beyond the recommended six to eight hours a day increases the risk by 20 percent per added hour. Dr. Rebecca Richmond, one of the team members who did the study, says that while the claim needs further investigation, its result has been consistent with previous research. Some of their acquired data also show that changing one’s slumber habit and adapting the circadian rhythm of a ‘lark’ can have protective qualities against breast cancer.
2. Not having quality sleep speeds up aging
The expression “beauty sleep” is actually more than a mere saying because having regular and quality slumber can be one of the best natural beauty enhancers one can utilize. When your body is well-rested, it optimizes your body functions, making you look fresh and naturally attractive. However, there is so much more about this fact.
A study by the University Hospitals Case Medical Center showed that rest quality can even affect one’s skin structure. The research studied 60 pre-menopausal women ages 30 to 49, and they were divided into two groups according to their sleep quality. The group with low sleep quality got ranked at 4.4 on the SCINEXA (score of intrinsic and extrinsic skin aging) scoring system, while the other group with a healthy sleep schedule received a 2.2 score.
The study showed how sleep can easily affect the way your skin looks. The researchers believed that UV damage was the main reason behind this. According to the study, low sleep quality reduces one’s ability to recover from UV radiation and related events.
3. Snoring can be a sign of heart disease risk
The Radiological Society of North America published a study that compared women and men suffering from OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). They learned from the research that women with OSA have a higher chance of developing cardiac issues earlier than men with the same condition.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition that often goes undiagnosed for a long time. This fact is troubling since the same study showed that many OSA cases remain undiagnosed.
The condition’s most common sign is snoring, and other symptoms include fatigue, dry mouth, morning irritability, and headache. The researchers recommend getting a sleep analysis or asking your partner to observe your rest patterns to catch when snoring transitions into OSA. When a sleeping person seemed to stop breathing and then gasped for air afterward, that can be a sign of OSA.
Conclusion
At this point, you now know that sleep plays an essential role in a person’s physical and mental health. It is involved in the healing and repair of one’s heart and blood vessels. It can even boost one’s mind and mood and decreases any risk for heart diseases, kidney diseases, high blood pressure, and other health conditions. While both genders need to get enough rest each day, women must be more intentional about the quality of rest they get as it will affect how they look and how their bodies function.
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