Poor Sleep Makes Asthma Worse
Sleep is a fundamental part of life, so much so that without adequate rest, multiple vital functions are affected. Thanks to scientific research, we also know that poor sleep worsens asthma and these patients are more susceptible.
As a respiratory disease, asthma has a chronicity that can be mild or severe. In mild forms there are intermittent symptoms, but in severe cases or asthmatic attacks, rest is disturbed and bronchospasm may occur during sleep.
At the same time, the new findings reveal that poor sleep makes asthma worse in the form of a poor interaction. The worse the patient’s rest, the more likely they are to have signs of the disease during the day.
A special mention deserves the disorder known as sleep apnea. It is common for individuals who have had asthma for years and have a tendency to be overweight suffer from nocturnal awakenings that come from momentary shortness of breath when sleeping.
As we are anticipating, sleeping little worsens asthma, but behind it hides a more complex problem in which risk factors are combined. This does not exempt the heart or cardiovascular diseases.
Poor sleep makes asthma worse, study says
In the latest issue of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology , a study was published stating that poor sleep worsens asthma. Similarly, research reports that other sleep disorders have the same negative effect.
The authors evaluated asthmatics over 20 years of age and divided them into three study groups:
- Those who slept little: less than 6 hours.
- Those who slept a stipulated time as adequate: between 6 and 8 hours.
- Those who slept a lot: more than 9 hours.
In the first instance, the last group already marked a composition trend, since they were mainly older women and smokers. On the contrary, those who slept less hours tended to be young.
In the long run, after follow-up, the group with fewer hours of sleep had more hospitalizations for asthma attacks and a higher frequency of dry cough. The same did not happen with those who slept a lot, although it was a group that showed problems to carry out the activities of daily life.
These results, in addition to pointing out that poor sleep worsens asthma, alerted researchers to the effect of sleep on respiratory dynamics. There could be a physiological link between breathing and the resting brain.