Getting enough sleep could help stave off asthma, new research suggests. Experts found that healthy sleep patterns were linked to a reduced risk of asthma, while poor sleep raised the risk – by more than double in those who were also genetically likely to develop the condition.
A team from Shandong University in China used data from the UK Biobank study to examine 455,405 people aged 38 to 73. They developed a model of risk and sleep traits and followed participants for 10 years.
At the start of the study, people were asked about their sleeping patterns, including whether they were a morning person or a night owl, how long they slept for, whether they snored, had insomnia and whether they suffered excessive sleepiness during the daytime. Based on their responses, 73,223 people met the criteria for a healthy sleep pattern, 284,267 an intermediate sleep pattern, and 97,915 a poor sleep pattern.
