Lack of Sleep Isn’t as Bad as We Think

It’s common to find news reports and advice columns that lack of sleep is a really major problem for your wellbeing. The Daily Express, for example, recently reported that “Lack of sleep for just a few nights can kill”. And this kind of thing is a common occurrence in the media. However, if that sort of story makes you feel anxious about what your sleeping cycle might be doing to your body: don’t worry; it’s not as bad as the media makes out.

The reality of the story that the Daily Express published was that lack of sleep can have an impact on gene activity. The reports are based on the results of a small clinical trial in which healthy people had samples of their blood analysed following a period of total sleep deprivation. They were placed into two groups; one had a week of less than six hours sleep a night, while the other had a week of up to ten hours sleep.

The authors of the study then measured levels of RNA. They found that there were significant differences in RNA levels from the ‘insufficient sleep’ group when compared to the ‘sufficient sleep’ group. It is known that the differences in RNA corresponded to genes that are involved in a wide range of processes of the body, including immunity and stress.

Most of the media’s reporting of the story and others like it are purely exaggeration that is intended to sell more copies. In this study the results were over-interpreted to suggest that a lack of sleep could affect the genes in such a way that it would place you at a higher risk of death. However, it is clear that this is not the case.