The Dangers of Late Sleep: Not 11, Not 12, But 10!Nowadays, many people have the habit of staying up late and burning the midnight oil. Watching dramas, playing games, scrolling through videos, browsing shopping websites
The Dangers of Late Sleep: Not 11, Not 12, But 10!
Nowadays, many people have the habit of staying up late and burning the midnight oil. Watching dramas, playing games, scrolling through videos, browsing shopping websites... time slips away unnoticed into the wee hours of the night. Is going to bed at 12 or 1 am and waking up at 8 am considered staying up late? What time is considered staying up late? Research has discovered that its not 11, nor 12. Many people have got it wrong...
Whats the difference between going to bed at 10 pm and going to bed at 11 pm or 12 am?
A joint research conducted in 2021 by the National Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Diseases, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, involving over 136,000 middle-aged and elderly people from 26 countries, has revealed that going to bed after 10 pm is considered late sleep. People who stay up late and sleep insufficiently are more prone to obesity and larger waist circumference, and even daytime naps cannot mitigate this risk.
The study included 136,000 participants aged 35 to 70, with an average age of 51. Based on their regular bedtime, they were divided into five groups:
- Group 1: 6 am to 8 pm bedtime
- Group 2: 8 pm to 10 pm bedtime
- Group 3: 10 pm to 12 am bedtime
- Group 4: 12 am to 2 am bedtime
- Group 5: 2 am to 6 am bedtime
The research indicated that compared to those who went to bed between 8 pm and 10 pm, individuals who went to bed after 10 pm had a 20% increased risk of obesity (BMI) and abdominal obesity (waist circumference). Specifically, those who fell asleep after 2 am had a 35% increased risk of obesity and a 38% increased risk of abdominal obesity. Moreover, the study confirmed that sleeping less than 5 hours per night constitutes severe sleep deprivation, leading to a 27% increased risk of obesity. Even napping cannot compensate for the harm caused by insufficient nighttime sleep.
In other words, going to bed before 10 pm significantly reduces the risk of obesity. And after 10 pm, it can be considered staying up late! So, you might be fat not because of what you eat, but because you sleep too late!
What are the benefits of going to bed at 10 pm?
1. More sleep time - Prevents cancer and inflammation
People who go to bed at 10 pm experience a noticeable change: they get more sleep, at least 1-2 hours more than usual. Those who consistently lack sleep will yawn excessively, feel dizzy, and lack energy... Apart from these "surface" harms, the more frightening ones are the "invisible" ones.
- A 2023 study published in the American scientific journal Cell has discovered that insufficient sleep triggers a systemic inflammatory storm. Sleep deprivation increases the production of prostaglandin D2 in the brain and its outflow through the blood-brain barrier, leading to a cytokine storm in the periphery.
Sleep deprivation causes a significant increase in the levels of the non-specific inflammatory marker C-reactive protein. This protein is also a predictor of a variety of health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, stroke, cancer, and depression. Researchers speculate that the cytokine storm manifests as excessive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to organ damage.
2. Waking up earlier the next day - Saying goodbye to negative emotions
"Feeling depressed and uninterested in everything," "Feeling bad, getting angry at everything"... these are the current life states of many people. Actually, this could be related to your irregular sleep patterns.
- In 2021, researchers from MIT and Harvard published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry that discovered that simply going to bed and waking up 1 hour earlier each day reduces the risk of major depressive disorder by 23%.
Analyzing data from nearly 840,000 adults, researchers found that their average sleep time was 11 pm bedtime and 6 am wake-up time. Their "sleep midpoint" (the midpoint between bedtime and wake-up time) was 3 am. However, for every 1-hour shift in the "sleep midpoint" earlier, the risk of developing major depressive disorder decreased by 23%.
In other words, when you shift your entire sleep cycle forward by 1 hour, for example, from your usual "11 pm bedtime, 7 am wake-up" to "10 pm bedtime, 6 am wake-up", you can significantly reduce the risk of developing depression and decrease your negative and adverse emotions.
3. Having breakfast earlier - Anti-aging and disease prevention
- A study published in the journal Food & Function in June 2024 showed that eating breakfast too late can accelerate aging. Those who eat late breakfast exhibit greater biological age and have a higher rate of accelerated aging.
The study analyzed 16,531 participants with an average age of 46.5 years and calculated their phenotypic age to reflect their actual biological age. The study found that those who ate breakfast later accelerated biological aging. Specifically, compared to those who ate breakfast at 6 am, those who ate their first meal at 10 am exhibited a higher biological age, with a 25% increase in the rate of accelerated aging.
- Furthermore, eating breakfast 1 hour earlier reduces the risk of diabetes! A study involving over 100,000 participants published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2023 found that those who ate breakfast after 9 am had a higher probability of developing type 2 diabetes, 59% higher than those who habitually ate breakfast before 8 am!
Researchers divided all participants into three groups based on their different breakfast times:
- Group 1: Those who ate breakfast before 8 am: 44.77%
- Group 2: Those who ate breakfast between 8 am and 9 am: 35.78%
- Group 3: Those who ate breakfast after 9 am: 19.45%
Compared to those who ate breakfast before 8 am, participants who ate breakfast after 9 am had a significantly increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes! Researchers stated that skipping breakfast affects blood sugar and lipid control, as well as insulin levels.
For your health, remember: go to bed before 10 pm, so you can have a healthier body and a better life!
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