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 Based on data from nearly 11,000 participants in a long-term study,
researchers found that postmenopausal women who slept less than five
hours a night were more likely to have low bone mass than those who
averaged seven hours sleep. Short sleepers were also up to twice as
likely to have osteoporosis of the hip and spine, according to the
report in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
The bone mass differences between the short sleepers and those who
logged seven hours were small, but roughly equivalent to about one
year of aging, the study team notes.
"We were building on our previous work, which showed women who slept
too little had higher fracture risk," said epidemiologist Dr.
Heather Ochs-Balcom of the school of public health at the State
University of New York, Buffalo, who led the study.
"Here, we examined a measure of bone mineral density, to see if that
could explain the previous finding," she told Reuters Health in an
email.
Ochs-Balcom and her colleagues analyzed data from the Women's Health
Initiative Study, which originally enrolled 161,808 postmenopausal
women aged 50 to 79 at 40 clinical centers and followed them over
time.
For the current study, the researchers focused on 11,084 women who
had undergone full body scans to assess bone density and had
answered sleep questionnaires. This group was 78% non-Hispanic
white, with an average age of 63, and nearly one in 10 reported
sleeping five hours or less per night. One in three also met
criteria for insomnia.
Using seven hours of sleep as the reference point, researchers found
that women who slept only five hours or less had lower bone mass in
whole-body, hip, neck and spine measurements. They were also twice
as likely to have osteoporosis in the whole-body measurement, 63%
more likely to have it at the hip and 28% more likely to have
osteoporosis in the spine.
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Women sleeping six hours a night had slightly increased risk of
spine and whole-body osteoporosis as well, the analysis found.
The researchers note that the sleep and bone-density assessments
reflect a single point in time, so the study cannot determine
whether short sleep causes changes in bone health. It is important,
they write, to consider the possibility that lower bone mineral
density could also be tied to factors that affect sleep.
A number of things contribute to skeletal health, said Dr. Alana
Serota of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, who
wasn't involved in the study. "I feel all our sins are written on
our skeletons," she said in a phone interview.
Serota noted that there is no clear answer on the ideal amount of
sleep for postmenopausal women, but it is important to wake up
feeling rested.
"We know poor sleep has an impact on cardiovascular health, leads to
diabetes, poor sugar control and hypertension. It stands to reason
these things can also impact the skeleton," she added.
"The most important thing is to stay active," Serota said. "Even if
one hasn't exercised before, it is a good time to start. The
diagnosis of any chronic condition, or a transition in any point of
life, is a good time for a health reset."
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/37kxzVk Journal of Bone and Mineral Research,
online November 6, 2019.
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