Glaucoma: Lack of sleep, insomnia and snoring may increase risk

Glaucoma: Lack of sleep, insomnia and snoring may increase risk
Poor sleep quality may be linked to the development of glaucoma, which leads to irreversible vision loss, according to a large study published in BMJ Open.

"Inadequate amount or poor quality of sleep is associated with many chronic health problems such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, obesity and depression. As explained in this article.

What is glaucoma?
"Glaucoma is damage to the optic nerve caused by intraocular pressure that slowly leads to vision loss, starting in the periphery before affecting central vision," says Brian, ophthalmologist and coroner at All About Vision. Boxer Wachler, MD, explained. According to Wachler, the most common type of glaucoma is open-angle glaucoma due to high intraocular pressure, while the less common type is low-tension glaucoma. Other less common types are angle-closure glaucoma and congenital glaucoma.

“Risk factors include being over age 55, male, smoker, African American, Asian, Hispanic, glaucoma, hypertension, diabetes, migraines, and a family history of sickle cell anemia,” he said. said.

Large study on sleep and glaucoma risk
Researchers analyzed data from over 400,000 UK Biobank participants aged 40 to 69 who participated between 2006 and 2010, providing details of sleep patterns. For this study, he defined normal sleep hours as less than 7 to 9 hours a day.

Anything outside this range was considered sleep deprived or oversleeped. The researchers also categorized participants by chronotype: whether they were morning owls or "night owls," and whether they were snorers. The results show that during the average follow-up period (approximately 10.5 years), the study participant was diagnosed with glaucoma 8,690 times.

The results also show that participants who developed glaucoma were more likely to be older, male, smokers, and have high blood pressure or diabetes than those who did not.

"This is an excellent observational study and opens up possibilities for future studies that seek to better understand the mechanisms behind the findings," he said. About three million Americans suffer from glaucoma, which is her second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to credible sources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Daytime sleepiness linked to greater risk
Researchers grouped participants according to the severity of their insomnia. B. Difficulty falling asleep or waking up frequently at night, categorized as Never, Occasionally, or Regularly. Daytime sleepiness was categorized as never, infrequently, occasionally, or frequently. A questionnaire completed at enrollment was used to identify potential contributors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, lifestyle and weight.

Investigators will examine medical records and death registry data to screen all participants until first diagnosis of glaucoma, death, emigration, or the end of the surveillance period (March 31, 2021), whichever comes first. tracked the health and survival.

Researchers found that sleeping less than 7 hours or more than 9 hours increased the risk of glaucoma by 8%. They also found that insomnia increased the risk by 12%, snoring increased the risk by 4, and daytime sleepiness increased the risk by 20%.

"An analysis of sleep patterns found that subjects with snoring and daytime sleepiness had an increased risk of glaucoma compared with subjects with healthy sleep patterns," the study's authors wrote. They also found that being a day or night person had no effect on glaucoma risk, and that classification with different types of glaucoma yielded similar results.

What causes poor sleep?
Kilkenny explained that there are "many reasons" why people don't sleep well.

"First, of course, sleep," he said. "Many people don't realize how important sleep is to their health. If they're not allowed to sleep, they'll die." I mentioned that it can interfere with sleep.

"The caffeine in tea and coffee is a stimulant, and especially if taken before bedtime, it can interfere with restful sleep," he warned. He added that eating late or close to bedtime can make you feel fuller, causing heartburn and making it harder to fall asleep.

Exercise and blue light can disrupt sleep

“Exercising too close to bedtime or exposure to blue light from computer games or television can disrupt sleep if these devices are used too close to bedtime.”

"Stress is one of the most common problems," he continued.

He suffers from insomnia, insomnia and insomnia. Emphasized that medical disorders such as respiratory syndrome and restless leg syndrome can easily interfere with sleep. "They are very common in the community and require medical attention," Kilkenny said.

Oversleeping linked to poorer health outcomes
Kilkenny said sleeping more than nine hours a night is called hypersomnia and is associated with many medical conditions. These include increased inflammation in the body, decreased immune function, increased risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, depression, coronary artery disease, diabetes and stroke. 20 to 30 percent higher risk of death than those who sleep seven hours per night,” he said.

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