Quelle: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:131-136

LANGZEITSTUDIE: Sterben Schlafmützen früher?
 

Kurzer Schlaf und "Schlaflosigkeit" schädigen die Gesundheit offenbar kaum

von Dr. med. Jochen Kubitschek

Eine kürzlich im Fachblatt Archives of General Psychiatry erschienene US-Langzeitstudie mit über einer Million Teilnehmern legt den Verdacht nahe, dass bereits 8 Stunden Schlaf pro Nacht die Sterblichkeitsrate um 12% deutlich erhöhen.

Selbst mit einem knappen Schlaf von fünf Stunden ist die Lebenserwartung höher als bei der oft empfohlenen Acht-Stunden-Dosis.  Wie die Analyse der Daten außerdem nahe legt, scheint sich die Schlaflosigkeit, über die manche Studienteilnehmer klagten,
nicht negativ auszuwirken. Menschen, die Schlaftabletten zu sich nahmen, besaßen hingegen eine niedrigere Lebenserwartung.

Die Autoren der Studie sind vorsichtig mit Schlussfolgerungen: "Wir wissen nicht, ob lange Schlafperioden tatsächlich zu einem früheren Tod führen", räumt Teamleiter Daniel Kripke ein.  Immerhin hat Kripke eine gute Nachricht für Kurzschläfer: "Wer in der Nacht im Schnitt 6,5 Stunden schläft, kann beruhigt sein, denn das ist eine sichere
Schlafmenge".

Vol. 59 No. 2, February



Mortality Associated With Sleep Duration and Insomnia


Daniel F. Kripke, MD; Lawrence Garfinkel, MA; Deborah L. Wingard, PhD; Melville R. Klauber, PhD; Matthew R. Marler, PhD


Background Patients often complain about insufficient sleep or chronic insomnia in the belief that they need 8 hours of sleep. Treatment strategies may be guided by what sleep durations predict optimal survival and whether insomnia might signal mortality risks.



Methods In 1982, the Cancer Prevention Study II of the American Cancer Society asked participants about their sleep duration and frequency of insomnia. Cox proportional hazards survival models were computed to determine whether sleep duration or frequency of insomnia was associated with excess mortality up to 1988, controlling simultaneously for demographics, habits, health factors, and use of various medications.


Results Participants were more than 1.1 million men and women from 30 to 102 years of age. The best survival was found among those who slept 7 hours per night. Participants who reported sleeping 8 hours or more experienced significantly increased mortality hazard, as did those who slept 6 hours or less. The increased risk exceeded 15% for those reporting more than 8.5 hours sleep or less than 3.5 or 4.5 hours. In contrast, reports of "insomnia" were not associated with excess mortality hazard. As previously described, prescription sleeping pill use was associated with significantly increased mortality after control for reported sleep durations and insomnia.

Conclusions Patients can be reassured that short sleep and insomnia seem associated with little risk distinct from comorbidities. Slight risks associated with 8 or more hours of sleep and sleeping pill use need further study. Causality is unproven.


Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:131-136

From the Departments of Psychiatry (Drs Kripke and Marler) and Family and Preventive Medicine (Drs Wingard and Klauber), University of California, San Diego; and The American Cancer Society, New York, NY (Mr Garfinkel).

Corresponding author and reprints: Daniel F. Kripke, MD, Department of Psychiatry 0667, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093-0667 (e-mail: DKripke@UCSD.edu).


Accepted for publication June 26, 2001.

The American Cancer Society, New York, NY, supported collection of these data. Analyses were supported by grants HL55983, HL61280, AG15763, and AG12364 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Kripke).

Presented in part at the Third International Congress of the World Federation of Sleep Research Societies, Dresden, Germany, October 7, 1999, and the 14th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, Las Vegas, Nev, June 20, 2000.

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Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002;59:131-136