Under or Oversleeping Can Equal More Inflammation

Whether you sleep too little or too much, it may lead to a higher incidence of inflammation.

A new study conducted in Finland found that those who sleep less than 6 hours or more than 10 hours suffer from low-grade inflammation more often than persons sleeping 7-8 hours per night.

“Earlier studies have found a relation between reduced sleep and low-grade inflammation,” says Maria Luojus, MHSc, one of the study researchers.

Furthermore, low-grade inflammation occurs in overweight, depression and diabetes.

The study is the first to analyze the association between sleep duration and serum micronutrient concentrations in a large sample, and it found a link between high serum copper concentration and long sleep duration. Serum micronutrient concentrations are affected by many factors, including an individual’s general health and diet.

“Based on this study, however, it is impossible to say whether sleeping long results in high serum copper concentrations or vice versa,” Luojus says.

The study involved 2,682 men living in Eastern Finland, participating the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) study. The KIHD study has been ongoing at the University of Eastern Finland in the Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition since 1984.

Source: News Release