(14-06-10) Can Being Sleep Deprived Actually Kill You Early?

People who suffer from a rare form of insomnia can die from lack of sleep.
A genetic disease called fatal familial insomnia, or FFI, causes people to
fall into a state in which they are neither asleep nor awake. Since they cannot
fully sleep, they suffer from exhaustion, dementia and eventually death. There
is no cure.
According to ABC News:
"The genetic mutation for FFI runs in families. Only 40 families are known to
have this disease in the world, but most people have had at least one night
where it seems impossible to fall asleep.?
A lack of sleep clearly wreaks havoc with many facets of human health.
Scientists have long known, for instance, that lack of sleep is associated with
weight gain. One study found that after a night of abbreviated sleep, subjects
consumed more than 500 extra calories.
Another study also found that subjects ate significantly more snacks and
carbohydrates after a night of only five and a half hours of sleep.
According to the New York Times:
?Some studies pin the blame on hormones, arguing that decreased sleep creates
a spike in ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, and a reduction in
leptin, which signals satiety.?


Sources:

ABC News April 26, 2010

New York Times April 26, 2010

News

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In evidenza

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